Lukewarm
by GlossyFresh
Summary: Mackenzie "Mack" Lancaster is loosely affiliated with the criminal scene of Los Santos due to relation, and not actions. Follow her story as she gets more involved through association, and where this lands the once sweet, fairly innocent girl.
1. Chapter 1

Hey everyone, I've been inspired to write after stumbling across some really amazing GTA V stories lately. My OC Mackenzie isn't the strongest character out there yet, but some people may feel they can relate to her. She'll develop, I promise.

I could ramble on forever, but here's the story. This is more of an introduction than an actual chapter.

* * *

"Mack? Mack? Mackenzie? You alright?" One of the party goers asked, waving their hand in front of the host' face.

The host, Mackenzie "Mack" Lancaster, flashed her bright blue eyes onto the person who was vying for her attention.

"Yeah, sorry, just um, zoned out a little." Mack replied, flashing a weak, nervous smile to the ostensible concerned person waving their hand. She was also suppressing a glare for the person getting into her personal space.

"As I was saying, I was on my fake account, and this sleazy guy was saying all of this fucked up stuff. You HAVE to see!" Mack's over enthusiastic friend, Natalie said, shoving her iFruit phone into Mack's face.

Mack rolled her eyes, finding herself fed up with her friend's shenanigans at this party. In fact, she was tired of everyone's shenanigans. She had one guy she less-than-subtly asked to leave for hogging the games console and whining about the lack of games, bringing everyone down. One of her friends was being a mute, whilst another one wouldn't shut the fuck up. Then there was Miss "I-live-vicariously-through-a-fake-LifeInvader-profile" who had spent the past six hours talking loudly about how messed up people were. This chick actually spent about fifteen hours a day communicating with people on a fake profile of a hot girl, and was spending the entire time at the party talking about how other people were psychotic for welcoming this fake's advances.

Her housemate's friends weren't that much better, either. They were loud, and insulted her decision to go to university. One of her housemate's (Callum) friends actually started explaining to her that people go to university to get a job, and he already had a job (in a call centre) and thus was much smarter than her. Another friend of Callum's also told Mack that because she lived in the outskirts of Rockford Hills (which was still a very wealthy area, mind you) she lived in "bumfuck nowhere" because of its distance from the Los Santos city centre. It turned out this person lived in Sandy Shores. That's right, this person lived in hick central, but no, Rockford Hills was Nowhere Land according to this bright individual.

Mack sighed as she excused herself, ignoring the dirty look her friend shot her for interrupting a story she'd told a million times, as she went inside her bedroom and laid down on her bed.

Mack was barely even drunk, but felt exhausted. Not physically exhausted, it was more of an emotional feeling. She was feeling up and down a lot lately. She was usually a very optimistic girl, but lately she felt she held a lot of pessimism. She used to have a lot of friends. She had her group of close friends she could trust with anything, and then a wider circle who she could party with. Her close friends she lost one by one for petty reasons, and the circle of friends all disappeared when she exited the party scene.

Not having friends was one thing, but the thing that tormented Mack the most was the fact she had lost so many in the space of a couple of years. Was she an awful person, so bad that people would stop associating with her over her being horrible? Was she easily disposable, that her friendship was a burden more than a blessing? It was a raw feeling, but it was either one or the other, and no conclusion sat well with Mack. Then there were the people out in the lounge room trying to be her friend, and she was nit picking reasons to not be close to them. If she put in a little effort, she could have a new group of friends. But instead she sat on her bed and sulked. It was better to go through a rollercoaster of emotions, than to put herself out there and get hurt once again.

Mack rolled onto her back and stared up at her dark ceiling, as the lights were turned off. Once upon a time she was quite a popular girl. Late high school and especially early university, everyone liked her, and she got invited to the most exclusive parties in the area. Now she had let herself go, and was _alone_. Her greatest fear had come true, and she too afraid to do anything about it.

She heaved herself off her bed to go turn her light off, not even bothering to say good night to anyone at her party, not feeling in the mood to do anything but crawl into bed and drift into sleep, where she could be away from all her superficial problems.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry this keeps dragging on before we get to meet the guys, next chapter will finally feature some GTA characters, promise. We'll also find out why such an ordinary person will be relevant to the story soon. It will all come undone slowly.

Oh and just as a little teaser, yes there will be a romance...eventually. And not just between Mack and a cop (you'll see what I mean after you read this)

Thank you SO much to yingyang754 and GUEST for the reviews. I really appreciate it.

* * *

Five seconds into the fire alarm going off, nobody even peered over their computer monitors to see what was going on. Twenty seconds into the fire alarm, everybody in the small office swung around on their chairs to shoot each other curious looks. Forty five seconds into the fire alarm someone actually spoke up to voice their concerns about the fact the alarm was going, and finally, sixty seconds later, a person in the tiny office spoke up, mentioning something of substance.

"Is it just me or is this not the sound that comes from our building when there's a fire?" One of the boys who worked in the office mentioned, his voice wavering between fear, sarcasm and general curiousity.

Mack's ears piped up at her co-worker's statement. She had been so engrossed with the mountain of paperwork on her desk she was charging through, she didn't even stop to pay attention to the fire alarm ringing off. The fire alarm in her building was like a stereotypical factory alarm sound with a pre-recorded voice ringing through saying something about the fire warden being notified and to stand by for further actions.

The one ringing through the area right now was a conservative "traditional" fire alarm, of a piercing sound of a bell. Definitely not her building's alarm, and no one in her office seemed to know what building this strange alarm was from.

Mack then stood from her computer chair, and opened the Venetian blinds on the window next to her cubicle used to block the sunlight. Usually she was cursing the northern facing windows for blaring too much sun in her face, but right now she was happy to have a view of the outside surroundings.

She took a good look at the road outside and saw an unusual, but sobering sight.

Across the road from her building was the police headquarters for the entire state. It had a small police station attached, but it was a tall building where all the detectives from major crime squads resided. Mack always found it amusing to see how many shady looking people came in and out of that building for questioning or arrests.

However today an alarm was ringing out, and both uniformed police and detectives in suits were pouring out of the building in droves.

"What do you think is going on?" A girl in the office asked, as she turned to face the other occupants in the office.

"Do you think maybe we should be doing something? Whatever alarm is going off there, we're still pretty close by too." Mack suggested, speaking up for the first time since alarms started going off.

Everybody looked at the manager for advice, but before she could even reply an alarm started ringing through their building. It wasn't the fire alarm that Mack knew though. This one was loud, and sounded identical to an air siren.

"Yeah, I think we better evacuate." The manager replied, and everyone began to quickly pack their things before flinging themselves out the door.

Mack didn't even hesitate to take the stairs, and she chuckled to herself when she actually saw chumps waiting for the elevator. Whether this was a fire or not, it still wasn't a good idea to chance taking the elevator.

Lots of people were coming down the stairs, and the stairs became quite crowded the lower she reached. The exit was then bottle necked and it took Mack a few minutes to finally be able to get through the door.

By then, there were numerous cars around. Fire trucks, white vans, black vans, heaps of police cars and even a few news crews on the scene. There were a few firemen and police officers at the front of her building escorting people out.

Mack trudged along towards the exit, and finally was able to leave, a while after the initial siren from the other building began.

"What's going on?" Mack asked the fireman, once she got to the front of her building.

"Bomb threat," the fireman replied gruffly, as he was lightly pushing her away "now move along!"

Mack glared at the man as she walked away, but dropped it when she realised she was being unreasonable, and also realised it was in her best interests to clear the area as soon as possible. She noticed there was police tape quite far away, and she was still deep in the red zone.

As she walked towards the tape she tried to have a look around to see if any of her co-workers were around. They weren't, she had lost them in the rush and panic, and couldn't see them in the sea of people around.

She finally reached the tape, and ducked under it. She shoved her way through the nosey bystanders, hurling a few insults in her confusion and panic after they shot her dirty looks and muttered things under their breath.

"Don't you losers have anything better to do, or are my tax dollars funding your decision to be annoying at crime scenes? Get a job and a life!" Mack shouted at them, finding herself hurling insults she created from god knows where.

The random insults the young twenty-one year old girl was yelling bought the attention of a journalist hanging around. Rachel Rale, an up and coming ex-weathergirl turned "serious" journalist eagerly approached the pretty younger female, seizing the opportunity to finally be taken seriously in her career.

"Miss, Miss!" Rachel shouted after Mack, both herself and her camera crew running to catch up were knocking over bystanders to quickly reach Mack.

"...hi" Mack stated, nervously looking into the camera as she was wondering if they were turned on or not.

"I was just um, wondering your thoughts?" Rachel stammered out, finding the confidence she had ten seconds ago rapidly drain from her body.

"You want to know my thoughts?" Mack said into the microphone, facing the camera.

Rachel nodded eagerly, and moved the microphone closer to Mack.

"My thoughts are, that it is seriously messed up. As in, really, really not good. What's wrong with the world?" Mack ranted loudly.

"Yes, this bomb threat really is something else." Rachel sighed in faux worry, playing the part of a concerned journalist, making sure she didn't miss the opportunity to shoot a worried look into the camera.

Mack looked at the journalist and the camera. She could see exactly what the journalist was doing, and wasn't impressed that this leech was using a serious event that had plenty of people worried as a stepping stone in her career, for a good story.

"The fuck you on about? You asked my thoughts. My current thoughts are that it is so messed up there's actually no penguins in the artic. Like, my entire life is a damn lie, dammit!" Mack responded, trying her best to look confused at Rachel's confusion but was trying her hardest not to snigger, and was losing her battle.

"I um...there you have it, teenagers are so scared they're acting hysterical on camera," Rachel tried, in an attempt to save the interview but instead let out a loud sigh "No, this isn't going to work, silly little girl."

Before Mack could say something insulting back to Rachel, a man appeared in front of Mack. His attention had been drawn from the entire commotion, and he couldn't help but get involved. He should know better considering what he was about to do, especially someone in his position. But he couldn't help himself. As a red blooded male he couldn't help but to come to the aid of a pretty young thing, and he hated journalists with a passion.

Before he knew it, he was in front of the young attractive girl, doing a silly dance on camera. He was waving his arms around and moving his legs around, and he knew he looked completely ridiculous.

' _This better not actually go to air. My family and friends won't let me live this down, and my boss will kill me'_ the man thought to himself, however his negative thoughts melted away when he saw he had the attention of the pretty girl who sent him a beaming smile, and joined him by doing jazz hands.

The two were both having so much fun that they didn't notice that Rachel the journalist had stormed off, and the camera crew quickly followed as she went to find someone who would be more appreciative of getting their face on television and would play along to give a compelling story.

The male had noticed Mack, but it was only when they both stopped to look at each other she really took in his appearance.

He was a little older than her, but not by much? She was guessing maybe five years, tops. She noticed he had cute brown eyes, and neat brown hair that was both cut and styled neatly. She looked him down, and couldn't make his body type out as he had on a pair of suit pants, and a blue business shirt, with a business suit thrown over his shoulder. He wasn't fat, at least.

She then noticed something, a lanyard around his neck! Only one type of professional wore lanyards around here.

"Are you a detective?" Mack asked him, not even bothering to start with small talk, as she crossed her arms over her chest and cocked up an eyebrow at the man.

"You do realise that cops don't have to actually admit they're a cop when asked, right? That's just a myth." The male replied, going with playful in order to flirt with the girl he was speaking to.

"I'm going to take that as a yes, considering only a cop would say that." Mack mumbled, unsure of how to reply as she was almost completely oblivious to the man's attempts of flirting with her.

The man looked at her, and nervously licked his lips. He wasn't sure whether she was reflecting that she wasn't really interested in him, or whether she was just naive and didn't understand he was trying with her. He tossed up in his head whether to give up and walk away or to press harder. He made up his mind.

"So um, what are you up to now? I'm guessing your work day is kind of ruined now." The man asked her, giving her a cheeky smile.

It was then that Mack started to clue in on what was currently happening. The man may or may not be interested. She smiled a bit to herself. As she didn't really go out much, she didn't really get cute guys hitting on her. She decided to try and play it cool, everyone had been a victim of making themselves available for someone when they thought the person was going to invite them to do something, but it turned out they were just making conversation.

She also took a look around her surroundings to see if she could see her co-workers or manager, just in case they had other plans. Seeing no familiar faces, she turned back to the detective.

"Yeah well, my plans are ruined. My paperwork is either not going to get done, or blown up, so there goes my exciting day." She joked, trying to hide the jittery nerves building up inside her as she looked towards the man who may or may not be interested.

The young detective smiled at her. Whilst Mack's nerves were rising, his were easing as he was trained to read body language, and could see she clearly wasn't rebuffing his advances.

"Well then, with no plans now, how do you feel about grabbing a coffee?" The man briskly stated, feeling confident enough to go for the kill rather than beating around the bush. That way if she said no, he could take the small hit to his ego, and move on.

"You're not even going to ask the less-than-subtle questions where you assume I have a boyfriend, where you try and gauge my response to see if I correct you to say I'm single or not?" Mack teased, in the only way she knew how to flirt, silly teasing and sarcasm. In all honesty, she knew she was a terrible flirter.

However, the young detective knew exactly how to reply.

"That's very presumptuous of you. Maybe I want advice on how to propose to a long term girlfriend, or I'm gay." The detective smirked at her.

He witnessed the pretty girl's smile fall from her face, and quickly spoke up again.

"But um, no. I'm interested in getting to know you, and I'm going out on a limb here by hoping that you're single, and after this brief encounter you're willing to get to know me a little, too." The man smiled lightly.

Mack mimicked his smile. Some girls wouldn't like this sarcastic sense of humour, but Mack did. He was showing intelligence too. She liked that in a man, and he seemed alright.

"Yeah, kay." Mack smiled, letting all sarcastic retorts swimming around in her mind disappear, as she smiled and began to walk away from the growing number of bystanders around.

* * *

Mack smiled as she crossed her legs on the bench they were sitting on, a skinny latte in one of her hands. She had made small talk with the detective and had learned a little about him. He was twenty-six, five years older than herself. He was a uniformed cop from the second he graduated high school and had been a detective for a year and a half now.

'I'm only doing small things right now, minor credit card frauds and the alike, but I have a HUGE success rate of getting people in jail, one day soon I'll be onto the big stuff, usually people aren't made detective until they're mid-thirties anyway!'

It wasn't just the man (Who had revealed his name as David shortly after they left the bomb scene) who had been talking, Mack got to reveal things about herself to him.

She was twenty-one and was studying business at the local university. She still had a bit to go due to poor circumstances, she kept withdrawing from subjects as she was having trouble with things. She had been working since she was fourteen, and aside from one receptionist gig when she was nineteen, she had been working in food and retail. After getting stuck in a sales rut, she finally got a break and got hired for an office job, and she was really happy there.

"I usually like going to public places and just chilling." Mack explained to David, taking a sip of her now half-empty cup. Or half-full? Now wasn't the time for metaphors.

"Why is that? It's not a usual hobby people would describe." David asked her.

"Yeah well, people watching can be fun sometimes. I like seeing people and making up stories for them. Watching people on obvious first dates is the most hilarious thing ever." Mack grinned, but then dropped it when she knew what was coming next.

"But that's what we're on. Do you think there are other people watching on, judging us?" David asked her.

Mack took a quick look around in the concrete squared area they were currently residing in. There weren't many people around. A few people in suits walking around, a few joggers periodically running past, and one crazy guy sitting at a stall trying to get signatures for people to legalise drugs. However, something did catch Mack's eye on her second scoop of the scene.

"They can, but I'm judging them." Mack said, nudging her head towards a couple sitting across the square.

"Why? That's definitely not a first date." David asked, turning back towards Mack to grin a little at how this date was turning. He could definitely say this was a unique first date, but also the most comfortable first date he had ever been on. He didn't want to jinx anything, but it seemed like this would be the best first date he had ever had been on. He also was doing his best not to appear too keen, but he was looking forward to getting to know Mackenzie better, and predicted great things for the both of them.

"He's a bit older than her. Nothing too creepy, but he's out of her age bracket. He has a ring, she doesn't. They're not giving each other gentle kisses, small caresses or little cuddles. They're making out like there's no tomorrow. They escaped the radar because that isn't a date ladies and gentlemen, that's example one of an affair." Mack grinned.

David looked on. So she was right. Upon closer inspection he noticed the age difference, the rings and the less-than-affection between the 'couple.' Either they were a weird one, or more likely as Mack pointed out, they were two people having an affair.

"You're right, this is pretty fun." David admitted, sending Mack a sheepish looking grin.

"We're too good, anyway. Our comfort levels are already at a fourth date level, we're throwing off any would-be people watchers anyway." Mack winked, and then poked her tongue out at David.

"Does that mean we'll one day get to a fourth date?" David asked hopefully, not even bothering to play it cool.

"You've got yourself to a second, at least." Mack smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

The sound of the music in the club was loud, as Tiffany sent a wide smirk to her friend. The music was pumping, the drinks were flowing and the guys were hot.

Tiffany had already hooked up with three guys, whilst her friend (Lara) had been with the one all night. They were having a good time and no one was going to ruin that.

The club music had stopped however, and a cover band was now on. Finding this not as fun to dance to, the two girls decided to go outside to the smoking area. Neither of them were smokers, but it was the only place to catch a break from the busy venue.

They both ordered their drinks (strawberry daiquiri) before heading outside and standing against a wall as they looked on to the entire area.

"This has been really fun!" Tiffany said to Lara, taking a sip of her ultra sweet drink.

"It has, even though you invited her." Lara hissed, talking about the third member of their trio who remained forgotton, who had been on the dancefloor all night screaming along to the cover band.

"Hey, who cares? We're meeting hot guys." Tiffany smiled brightly.

Tiffany and Lara were girls who were very sexually liberated. They came to the same club each Friday and Saturday night and went home with different men every time. They weren't the kind of girls who did it as an empowering "don't need no man" way. Instead, they did it to feed their already over-inflated egos, when deep inside they were insecure.

In return the entire club knew who they were, and they had a reputation. Guys who had struck out with every other girl always approached them as a last resort, and all it ever took was one drink. They were girls you'd usually feel sympathy for, except they weren't nice girls. They were nasty, showing they weren't just naive girls who got played.

"Yeah well, she's a stupid bitch. You'd think her getting skinnier would make her hot, but she looks like a rat. At least I have bigger boobs than her again." Lara said, speaking about the girl inside. Lara took great pride in her breast size, and always felt competitive with the girl who was inside.

"Yeah well... let's just let it go, okay?" Tiffany asked, who was the more reasonable one out of the two.

"You invited her." Lara snapped at her, but stopped when she saw a man approach her.

This man was fairly tall, and of African American appearance. He had some sort of dark liquor in his hand, and a huge smile on his face.

"Yo sup girls?" He grinned, taking a confident sip of his drink.

"We are very well thanks, how are you?" Tiffany asked, in an attempt to flirt with the man.

Lara shot daggers at her 'best friend' and decided to up the ante in order to try and land this man for herself.

"I'm just looking for a man to go home with, know any takers?" Lara said, batting her eyelids at the man in front of them both.

"You're in luck, girl. My boy Franklin and me are looking at inviting some girls to our hotel room. You in?" The man asked the two girls, sending a confident grin their way.

The two girls looked on at the outside bar, and saw a similar looking male leaning onto it. The two girls then looked at each other and gave a look they could both easily read, 'let's go for the kill' however both girls failed to realise how nonchalant the other male at the bar appeared to be.

"Yeah, we'll come." Lara immediately responded, and her friend Tiffany just gave the stranger a wide smile.

"Alright. I'll go speak to him, then we will bounce." The stranger said, sending the two girls a wink as the two girls began to squabble over who got the confident one and who got the nonchalant one as the stranger walked back to his friend.

"What are you doing, homie?" Franklin asked Lamar when he returned to his best friend, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Man, you need to get the fuck over Tanisha. You can get way hotter bitches, homie." Lamar complained to Franklin, saying words he had said a million times over.

Franklin should have known better, however. Going out with Lamar was guaranteed this treatment, especially with the kind of money both young men were pulling in these days. He had made it rain a few times at the strip club since getting paid, but nothing seemed to fill the void that Tanisha left in his heart, and no amount of exotic dancers seemed to make him happy.

"Hotter bitches, right." Franklin said sarcastically, as he watched the two girls argue a few metres in front of them both.

Judging them on their less than perfect appearances was cruel, but hey, Los Santos was a cruel city. They were both large, safely inbetween "overweight" and "obese" with one being larger than the other, but she was taller. They were both blonde, naturally blonde too, with blue eyes. Such fair features were meant to be the most attractive things to a vast majority of men, but these girls were not attractive at all. It wasn't just their large weight that made him feel they were unattractive, but the way they presented themselves. Make-up that almost seemed shovelled on, with cheap and tacky clothes that made them look even larger. He had also seen them earlier on in the night, eating the faces off many other men. Not a good look.

But Franklin was also in a bad mood because this place was outside his comfort zone. He preferred R&B clubs with great dancers, not a place with cover bands filled with white trash. He had no idea why Lamar wanted to go here, but he did.

Lamar could see his friend's discomfort a mile away, and continued speaking.

"Okay, so they're not Victoria's Secret models. But man, they're easy. That white guy that gave you that hotel said one night only, we may as well have a sure thing in a sweet room. We can get hot bitches any other time." Lamar commented, still attempting to convince Franklin.

One of the organisers of his recents crimes, Lester, had given Franklin a night in a very prestigious hotel. Franklin didn't completely understand the money laundering business, but his free hotel stay was something to do with making dirty money clean, and he wasn't complaining.

Franklin sighed as he looked at his friend. It didn't matter how attractive the girls they were bringing back were, he was going to miss Tanisha anyway. The sooner Lamar went home with someone, the sooner Lamar would be off his back, so maybe this was a good thing.

"Alright, fine homie. I'll go grab us a cab, you get the girls." Franklin said reluctantly, giving his best friend a fist bump as he grabbed his mobile phone from his pocket and walked off.

Meanwhile the two girls had stopped fighting and decided who got which man. Lara had won the fight for Lamar, and Tiffany had settled for Franklin.

"He's cuter anyway," Tiffany said in order to spite her friend "he seems more intelligent"

"So should we just leave... her on the dancefloor then? No one wants her anyway." Lara cruelly said about the third girl that came with them tonight, avoiding Tiffany's observation.

"Ummm... yeah, okay. She's having fun anyway I guess, and she's such a prude anyway. She never goes home with guys. Let her get in a cab to Rockford Hills alone." Tiffany hissed, not realising her words had switched on a cruel thought and idea in Lara's mind.

"You're right. She never goes home with anyone. Let's take her back with us. I'm sure there's a couch to sleep on, we're just educating her on the outside world, outside her little yuppie bubble." Lara quickly suggested.

Lara's suggestion made no real sense, but her real idea was simple. Her jealous mind had twisted the idea it would be hilarious to drag the poor girl along, and make her feel like a fifth wheel, sleeping alone outside as she woule hear the fun the two couples would get up to.

Tiffany only shot her friend a look, she didn't really feel like babysitting someone who's presence was redundant, but before she could protest Lara had disappeared back inside, just as the young man from before reappeared.

"My man has just gone to get a cab. Where did your friend split to?" Lamar asked Tiffany, making Tiffany scrunch her nose as Lamar had noticed her presence missing.

"I'm not sure. I think she wants to bring our third friend home with us. Well she's not really a friend, I just invited her out because I feel sorry for her." Tiffany stated.

Lamar only nodded, as he didn't want to get involved with his one night stand's petty girl dramas. So instead, they both just waited around in silence. Surprisingly it was Franklin who returned first, to let them know that a cab was waiting for them.

"You know...we could just go on without Lara." Tiffany purred, and Franklin shot Lamar a look before Lara reappeared, the third girl looking very sick on her arm.

"It took a lot of convincing, but after three shots in the space of two minutes, our little friend here has agreed to come and crash on the couch." Lara smiled wickedly.

Franklin and Lamar shot another look at each other, this time in surprise. They expected the third girl to look the same as the other two, but she was a lot different. She was still a white girl, with a few small freckles remaining on her face from childhood. She had bright blue eyes, long brunette hair, and unlike the other girls she had a nice figure. Her clothes were nicer too, they not only suited her figure, but they were more subtle, a nicely coloured black.

She definitely didn't fit in with these girls, and Lamar could instantly see why they were trying to create drama with her.

The third girl finally landed her gaze on the two strangers, and a smirk grew upon her face.

"Hello, I'm Mackenzie." She smiled, catching the two men off guard as she bought her hand out for a high five.

Franklin smiled, for the first time tonight, as he high fived her, with Lamar following through too. White girls weren't really Franklin's thing so he wouldn't be trying with Mackenzie, but he had a feeling her presence was going to make his night a lot better.

* * *

Franklin was wrong, the third girl didn't make his night better. She passed out the second they got into their oversized cab and was dead to the world. He nearly slipped the taxi driver some extra money to take her to the address listed on her license, but before he could get her license, the largest girl there (Lara? He thought that was her name but wasn't entirely sure) pinched Mackenzie until she woke up.

The hotel room was a large penthouse with three rooms. Therefore there was plenty of room for the two couples and the third guest. The second they got in there the two almost sober girls put the drunk girl to bed, before going to bed with their respective man.

A few hours later, Mack woke up. She didn't get so drunk she blacked out, but she still did get pretty drunk. She didn't have the alcohol tolerance she used to now she weighed a lot less, and the fact she didn't drink frequently anymore didn't help. Letting Lara talk her into those last three tequila shots is what sent her over the edge, from tipsy to trashed.

In fact letting Lara talk her into coming was a bad idea too. Lara had never liked her, but she was just a downright bitch to Mack now. Tiffany used to be her best friend and was pretty mean too. Mack only went out with them both to possible repair the friendship, but she wasn't going to throw away her dignity for the sake of false comfort.

But now she was hungover as hell in a strange hotel room.

Mack took a few moments to compose herself, before heaving out of the very comfortable 5-star hotel room bed to get to her Drone phone (because iFruit phones are for plebs) to check her location on her phone GPS, and to go outside to call a cab to get home.

She saw she was in Vinewood, and decided she would go downstairs into the foyer to call a cab and wait there. So she packed her small bag, put on her cardigan and slowly exited the room to sneak out of the hotel room.

What she didn't expect to find was one of the men sitting on the couch, drinking a beer, watching shitty cable TV.

He immediately turned his attention onto Mack, who nervously pulled down her dress, fluffed her hair and gave him a smile.

"Leaving?" He asked, a small smirk on his face.

"Hi! Um... yeah. I appreciate your hospitality and all, but I thought I'd get out of your way and go home." Mack smiled at the man, rooted in the spot she was standing in.

"I'd say you're welcome, but it feels we didn't really do much. Man, I don't know why your friends got you to come here." Franklin said to the girl attempting to leave.

"Because I was very drunk, and made a dumb decision. In all honesty it's pretty weak compared to bad decisions I've made while drunk, but it's still a decision that would have been different sober." Mack admitted, taking a step towards the couch but remained standing.

"I hate to get involved in yo little girly bitch fights, and I hope I ain't telling you shit you don't already know, but those girls were sayin' some real mean things about you." Franklin said to the girl in his presence.

Mack smiled a bittersweet smile, and sighed as she sat down on the spare couch next to the other couch where the man was sitting. He opened the can of worms, Mack was now going to open up to him.

"Yeah, Tiffany and I had a falling out a while ago. It was over cocaine, the most stupid fight ever. Lara never liked me. I don't like saying negative things about overweight people, but she's a fat bitch who has a chip on her shoulder," Mack blurted out, but her eyes widened and she covered her mouth "Sorry I never get involved in drama like this, just their negativitity towards me tonight has gotten to me."

"You fought about cocaine?" Franklin asked the girl, raising an eyebrow.

"Um, yeah," Mack said shifting uncomfortably in her seat as she wasn't sure what his stance on illegal substances was "I used to be a user... kinda."

"That shit killed my mom." The man stated, and Mack bit her lip to try and distract from the awkward situation.

Before she could apologise and try and cover up the situation, he pulled out a small ziplock bag with pure white powder in it.

"Therefore I shouldn't have this, but I do. It makes it easy to get girls, and I get that pure stuff, none of that cut shit," Franklin said, waving it in front of Mack's face "Want some? You seem you could do with some cheering up."

Mack smiled, and shook her head.

"It's nearly been two years since I used. Even then, it was only ever a couple of lines in a high end club with my brother every now and again, we never sat around the house using it on a daily basis." Mack admitted.

"Well if you want we can go out, the night is still young. Luckily Lamar chose easy girls, I didn't have to waste any coke on them and don't feel bad about leaving." Franklin stated, which made Mack giggle.

"That's pretty terrible, but pretty funny too. Just so we're clear, I'll go to the club with you, but I'm not putting out. I've seen what girls will do for a free line and it's disgusting." Mack said to Franklin, studying his face.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Franklin said, raising his hands in a defense fashion "You're definitely not my type, I prefer women of colour. I'm just getting over heartbreak, so I just want to go to the club."

"So, we're really doing this. It's currently 4am, we're going to go out and call a cab, go to a club, drink some more, meet new people and probably still be messed up at lunch time? You know what, sure. I haven't done that in years. You get the best stories out of it." Mack stated, a huge smile on her face. She used to have lots of fun when she was in this scene a while ago. Even though she was a retired (some would call it reformed) party girl, it was fun to do it once in a while.

"Don't forget to do a line first." Franklin said, pouring a small amount onto the table and getting his credit card out.

"So, tell me about this heartbreak of yours." Mack asked of Franklin as he began cutting lines.


	4. Chapter 4

**I just want to quickly mention why I keep mentioning my character's looks... even though this is my first story on this account, usually I don't make my characters good looking haha. Mack isn't going to be an amazing gunwoman, she's no criminal mastermind, she's not perfect in every way. The only thing she really has going for her are good looks, and she needs something to get the attention of the main three characters, because she has nothing else going for her to them to even bother talking to her. The way she looks will also come in handy down the line, but you'll find out about that later. Also when the cop was describing her a few chapters back, he was smitten, so it went on about her looks a bit. I'll be smoothing this out in the next few chapters.**

 **Anyway, yeah. I've been feeling like I've made Mack a total Mary-Sue for ages, but as the story plans out, she will get distinguished from one soon, as she will have a bit of substance.**

 **Also sorry for the lack of Franklin, Michael and Trevor. Next chapter onwards they're permanently in it. Just needed to set everything up.**

* * *

The rest of the night (or technically morning) was interesting for Mack. Franklin and Mack did their line, jumped into a cab and made their way to a dirty open all hours club that would let in high, still half-drunk people and they partied hard.

Franklin met a girl he was interested in and split up with Mack after they both snuck into a unisex toilet and did a line each, and Mack managed to find her way to the smoker's area where she managed to talk to heaps of random people. When Franklin and Mack met up again, they each had a group of people and they somehow convinced them all to go to brunch.

Brunch? Who would have thought it. Franklin thought brunch was a ridiculous thing that only white people with too much money did. Mack on the other hand believed brunch was an activity that middle class people participated in, to pretend they had more money than they did. So it was amusing they both went to it, and got other people to join in.

It was at brunch when Lara and Tiffany must have awoken, as Mack was sent abusive text messages from Tiffany at this time. They were accusing her of 'ditching' them and 'stealing her man' a few insults were thrown in such as 'slut' which made Mack laugh as she showed Franklin. Pot, kettle, anyone?

Mack just deleted both the texts and the contacts from her phone. She had the best night in perhaps years, and it had shown she could easily make friends. She didn't need to chase fake ones anymore. She also grabbed Franklin's number as she waited for her cab, they got along really well and could become great friends.

Tonight though, she was visiting her brother. Brandon Lancaster was ten years older than his younger sister, and in a different phase of his life. He partied even harder than Mack when he was younger, there was no other option for him. After all, the Lancaster siblings had good genes. Their father was a handsome banker with great charisma. Their mother was an ex-model turned housewife when she married their father. Therefore there was no escaping a non mediocre life for either of them. Both their parents were gone now, but they left behind two beautiful children.

Brandon was now married with a bit of cash, to a girl named Melody. Mack never knew if that was her real name or not as she was a bit of a hippie, but it was now at a point where Mack had known her for too long and it would be weird to ask. They also lived in a new home near the airport, which was a bit of a drive from where Mack lived, Rockford Hills.

Brandon and Melody were cute together in an unconventional way. At first glance you'd think they were not suited for each other. Brandon was a good looking conservative kind of guy. On his work days he was always dressed in a suit, and on his off days it was always a polo, and either business pants or khakis if "he was feeling lazy" (his words) his wife Melody on the other hand, completely different. She was beautiful, but alternative. She had long hair, a nose piercing and always wore odd coloured combinations. It was common to see her in long skirts all year round, and she never dressed formally.

So usually those two are "enemies" in the world, the capitalist and the anti-capitalist. However, although they both wore "uniforms" they were still people with real thoughts. Brandon had a sense of humour and personality, and Melody was able to be an independent thinker, away from the usual hippie rent-a-crowd bullshit. They actually both got along really well, which inspired Mack, at least in a way.

Brandon had also mentioned one time when he was drunk that "the success to a happy marriage is an open relationship" so Mack also knew they were in an open marriage. She didn't care to ask for the details and Brandon never provided them to her. Mack thought it was a bit rich he was dishing out marriage advice when he had been married for just over a year, but she would never say that to him.

Mack parked her red Dinka Blista on the side of the street. It was a small hatchback with only two doors, but that's all she needed. It was fuel efficient, if she never needed to give more than one person a ride that was their issue to move the front seat forward to get into the back. Mack also believed that any females who decked out cars and looked down on fellow females for not doing so (which Tiffany always did) were either trashy or compensating for something wrong with them.

She then made her way to the house and rang the doorbell. She also gave a weird look to the camera sitting next to the door. It had been there for a while but Brandon had never talked about it. Los Santos could be a rough city and it wasn't uncommon for people to have cameras monitoring their entire property in case any vandals were loitering around, but it was a little strange to have a camera monitoring who was at the door. What happened to the good old fashioned peep hole?

It didn't take long for Melody to answer the door, who gave Mack a big hug when she answered the door.

"H...hi." Mack stuttered out. Mack was a friendly person, but she was a little socially awkward. She also wasn't a touchy feely person, so this hug had caught her a little off guard and she didn't know how to fully react.

Melody let go eventually and led Mack into the house, where she walked into the lounge to see Brandon on the couch with a glass of scotch in his hand.

"Ah, little sister. Would you like a glass?" Brandon offered, and Mack could tell he was already a little tipsy. He drank a lot, but he always got up for work the next day, so Mack never said anything about his drinking. He was still managing to live properly.

"Nah, no thanks. Need to drive back to Rockford Hills, I'll probably pass a million cops on the way home." Mack grinned, dying inside secretly as she loved a good glass of Scotch just as much as her brother did.

"So tell me, how is university going for you?" Brandon asked Mack, taking a sip of his drink.

"Yeah, it's good. Four more weeks and I'm out for the summer." Mack stated, smiling brightly.

"That's great to hear. Maybe when you're on summer vacation we should go out again, do certain illegal activities, get hammered, just like the old days." Brandon said to her.

Mack gave him a weird look. It was Brandon who introduced her to that lifestyle and got her a fake ID when she was eighteen to do the stuff he just mentioned, similar to what her and Franklin had done last weekend. But when he got with Melody he stopped all of that, even though that's how he met her and she was okay with Brandon having that lifestyle. For him to suggest doing that stuff again, it meant something was off.

Mack nearly mentioned last week and how she met a guy she hung out with and partied with, but kept her mouth shut. She felt bad hiding something from her brother, but he was clearly hiding something from her, and she didn't like it.

* * *

"I'm fine! I swear! He only showed the gun as a joke!" Mack complained loudly, as Brandon her brother was dragging her out of an upscale clothing store by her arm.

He stopped, and swung around to look at her.

"A joke? Wake up Mackenzie, people don't wave around guns angrily if they're not trying to intimidate you. Unless he was calm about it?" He asked Mack, rage still all over his face.

"Well…no. But still! If it was a criminal offense to try and intimidate someone when you're pissed off, every person in this city would be in jail. This is really overdramatic!" Mack complained, after fidgeting for a few moments.

"The guy is a serial pest, he hassles shop assistants all over this city. You're doing all sales people in this city a favour by going to the police. In one night he has harassed an employee, and a family member." Brandon said loudly, sending out a frustrated growl at the end.

"You don't get to claim both when it only happened to me!" Mack loudly said, sighing as her brother pushed him into his car.

For the past few weeks Mack had been helping out at a clothing store her brother recently acquired a stake of. Her first job was working in a clothing store in high school so she had quite a lot of experience, but she wasn't a fan of this job. It was the first job she has had where she feels customers have treated her differently because she's a female, especially older men. While a handful were lovely, majority were either sleazy, or would be condescending towards her as they felt they were above a retail worker.

Her old store was also fun work. She worked hard and long hours, even working her way to being a manager before she left two years ago, but it was still fun. All her customers loved her, all her staff loved her and she knew how to do every job really well. This new store wasn't as fun, no one respected her and she didn't have the knowledge to do most tasks, making it seem hard. Maybe she had just gone soft from working in an office, who knows. It also didn't help she went straight from her office to the clothing store three nights a week, and was always exhausted for that job.

The problem was that Mack didn't know how to break the news to Brandon that she didn't want to work there anymore. He was the only family she had after all.

Tonight a well known man with anger problems had come into the store, and greeted Mack with a gun in his hand before putting it away. A little creepy and not social behaviour, but definitely nothing to go to the police about, he had not threatened her with it. Brandon insisted however, feeling protective over his younger sister.

"You don't deserve this treatment, come on." He said to her, as he grabbed her by the arm and forced her out of the car and through the police station doors.

"I want to report an attempted murder!" Brandon bellowed loudly, the second they burst through the doors, gaining the attention of the police officer on the desk, and everyone else in the room.

"It's not a murder attempt! It's nothing. Look, my brother is being overly dramatic, I'm sorry we're wasting your time." Mack mumbled, her face red with embarrassment as she turned away and tried to escape but Brandon held her still.

"Sir, reporting attempted murder is a serious matter, and a very serious charge. Are you sure you really want to go ahead with this?" The policeman at the desk asked, looking very unamused, a huge scowl on his face.

"Does the name Charles Pewter ring a bell?" Brandon asked the policeman, smirking as he knew the creep's reputation around town, all the police knew of this guy as many violence claims had been made against him.

"Well, that changes everything. We have been trying to nail this guy for years, one more serious case against him might just do that. Please, come through." The policeman said, stepping away from the desk and went to open the doors.

"No, this isn't right. He's a creep and shouldn't have his gun out when walking into a store, but he doesn't deserve false charges pressed against him. I won't do this!" Mack argued, taking steps away from her brother and got herself ready to bolt out the door, feeling hot and flustered, dazed and confused.

"It's okay. I'll deal with her." A new person said, joining the conversation as he walked over.

Mack's jaw dropped. In all of the haste, she hadn't noticed there were other policemen around. In front of her now was David, the detective she had gone on a date with the day her office building was evacuated. Even though it was fairly late at night he was in a crisp suit, with his neat hair.

Mack should have been relieved there was a familiar face to help her out here, she could only feel shame. She really liked this guy, and now it seems like it was ruined. He'd either think she was a selfish, paranoid bitch who thought every guy was out to get her, or she'd think her family were a bunch of psychos. This really wasn't a good look.

"Are you sure?" The uniformed policeman asked, looking disappointed he was losing a good case to a suited detective.

"Yeah, I'll have a chat to her, and drive her home. Come on, let's go outside." David said, opening the door for Mack and she quickly raced through to get away from the scene, and to get the awkward situation over and done with.

"So…where to begin?" Mack asked nervously, being the first one to make conversation once they were a while away from the station, as they walked down the main road together.

"Do you have a twin sister or did you get fired?" David asked, sounding amused as he motioned to her outfit. Her uniform for the clothing store. She had completely forgotten that David didn't know she had two jobs, so this could look really strange to him.

"I help out at this store my brother has a small stake in. Um, sorry about him. Look, nothing happened…" Mack began, her explanations rushing out but David stopped her before she could continue.

"It's okay. That kind of stuff happens a lot, actually. I just saw you were uncomfortable and jumped in to remove you from that awkward situation. It would be kind of neat if we could hang out, too." David smiled at Mack.

"Even after my brother storms in being overdramatic and makes a fool of both himself as well as me, you still want to see me?" Mack asked, stopping in her tracks to shoot him a weird look.

"Yes. I'm growing quite fond of you, and your quirky little text messages you send me everyday." David replied, touching Mack's hair affectionately, making her blush and look down, all the while David could only think about how cute she looked.

"So, is this our second date? On our second date my brother stormed in overdramatically and embarrassed both me and him. Most interesting date, ever." Mack stated, a small smile appearing on her face as she finally began to feel comfortable again.

"I suppose so." David replied, chuckling.


	5. Chapter 5

**So a nerdy bar near my house is throwing a GTA party in a couple of weeks. Sounds like tonnes of fun, right? I thought so too, until I looked on the event page on Facebook and saw the comments from the people going. Mostly "gAmEr gUrLz" (I know as females we're not meant to hate on fellow female gamers, but these are the ones where that stereotype began) commenting shit like "I play REAL games so I don't dare play GTA, what should I wear in that case? teehee x" instead of just fucking Googling it because they want attention, some feminists complaining GTA is sexist and they're going to the party but going to ignore GTA due to it's negative portrayal of women, and then loser guys trying to chat up the feminists and/or the moron girls.**

 **I'd honestly rather just stay in and play GTA by myself, am I making the right decision?**

* * *

Brandon Lancaster had always been a ladies man, since the age of fifteen. He had an amazing gift with being able to communicate with people, because he could read people really well. Before you even started talking to him he could tell what mood you were in, and after a few minutes in conversation he knew enough about you to charm you over. He was always the guy that other guys wanted to be, and the guy that all the girls wanted to be with. Many people throughout Los Santos knew who he was, and it wasn't uncommon for people to mention to Mackenzie that they knew her brother once she revealed her last name to them. He was a great looking guy who lifted weights regularly with great charisma, of course he was going to be very popular.

Mack wasn't impressed today, however. She was sitting in a cab with her hands across her chest, as her already-drunk brother and his just as drunk wife were talking shit, laughing and babbling away. Brandon had insisted his younger sister come with them both to a party at a house that was only a fifteen minute walk from the house Mack was living in.

Rockford Hills was one of the most affluent places in all of Los Santos, and this was where Mack owned a house with her brother that they both had inherited. Brandon had moved out a while ago, so Mack got a housemate to live with her. Whilst most of Rockford Hills were large McMansions with no soul or character, on the outskirts there were smaller houses. The blocks were still pretty large and the houses were still expensive due to the location, but they were homes rather than mega mansions. Mack lived in this part of the expensive suburb.

Rather than meeting her brother out the front of where this party was being held, Brandon insisted that Mack make her way to his pad on the other side of town, and then they'd all travel together. There was no convincing him, and Mack didn't want to show up alone to a party full of strangers, so she agreed to Brandon's terms.

"So, Mackenzie, there's a bit of a backstory with this dude who's house we're going to, but you gotta keep a secret, okay?" Brandon said to his sister, growing serious for a moment.

"Yeah?" Mack replied, unsure of what to really say.

"This guy, Michael owns the house. He has two kids and a wife. He's the biggest cuck ever, I mean seriously. I think half the town has slept with his wife and he's either a schmuck who doesn't realise, or pretends to not know." Brandon began to explain.

"Do you have a beef with this guy or something?" Mack snorted, trying to find humour in what Brandon was saying instead of showing pity for the poor guy.

"Well, no. He's a great guy actually, we get on very well. He's not an angel himself, he has sex addiction or some shit and sees a therapist and sleeps around himself. But both myself and Melody have had sex with his wife, Melody had a threesome with her and her yoga instructor, and I got to watch." Brandon said.

The taxi driver was able to give the reaction Mack wanted, he stopped the car in an instant to turn around and give the married couple a creepy grin. Mack chose to ignore the driver, in fact she wanted to ignore everyone right now. This is not a conversation she wanted to be having with her older brother.

"Okay, so they're a dysfunctional married couple in denial. I get it, my lips are sealed." Mack stated, as the taxi driver pulled up.

Mack looked out the window and saw the house. It was nice, that was for sure. It was big, and the gardens were very well kept. The outside decor was also maintained, and you could tell the architect had gone for timeless classics so the house would always look fairly modern, rather than followed whatever trend houses had when the house was built. It was cliché to hate on big homes, but it had almost no character. No warmth. But still, Mack was impressed. These people obviously had money.

The taxi driver completely ignored Mack as they were exiting, but made sure to pass a business card to Brandon and said to call 'anytime he wanted' before he left. But not too long after, they were alone, with a few cars parked in the driveway and the sound of music coming from the home.

Brandon finished drinking his can of whatever alcohol he had, and threw it into the bushes before grinning at both his sister and his wife, and cockily strut to the front door and rang the doorbell. Melody put her arm around her husband, but Mack stood back as she felt uncomfortable about the fact she was about to meet new people.

Not too long after, the door opened. There in front of her, was a woman who looked bored to begin with, but her eyes lit up as she saw who was standing in front of her.

"Brandon! Hi!" She smiled brightly, jumping into his arms and cuddling into him.

As he started petting her hair, Brandon looked at Mack and mouthed 'the wife' to which Mack had already guessed. Mack was focusing on Melody though, as she was wondering her reaction. Open marriage or not, this woman clearly had some emotional bond with Brandon to cuddle up to him in this manner, yet Melody didn't bat an eyelid. Brandon had found a good match if he wanted to live this way, maybe Mack was naive and a hopeless romantic, but surely she wasn't the only one who would be uncomfortable in this situation?

"The wife" then turned to Melody and gave her a warm welcome and a hug, before she turned her attention to Mack in curiousity. It was now that Mack got to have a good look at her.

She was attractive, no doubt about it. She had good facial features and a rock solid body, you could tell by how nicely her formal dress clung to her body. Mack could see she had cosmetic work done though, and it didn't make her look bad, but you could just tell she had work done. It was hard to describe, but you know when something just doesn't sit right with someone's facial structure and you can tell they've had plastic surgery? This was one of those moments.

"This is my baby sister Mackenzie, Mack this is Amanda, the lady of the house." Brandon introduced, and Amanda greeted Mack warmly with a big smile and a handshake.

"It's very lovely to meet you, Mackenzie. Any relative of Brandon is welcome in this house at any time. My, your entire family got hit by the good-looking stick I think, you're a very pretty girl." Amanda complimented the younger girl.

"As are you, Amanda. Brandon mentioned you have kids, if I didn't know any better I'd say you were younger than me." Mack said, stretching the truth a little as she wanted to be polite and compliment the woman back.

Amanda giggled and went to make a remark about her plastic surgery, but was cut off by her husband bellowing from the other room.

"Amanda put your panties back on and let Brandon and his wife into the house, they don't want to hear you going on like a harpy, and you're letting the cold air in!"

Amanda didn't even bother saying anything as she marched away and seconds later yelled at what Mack guessed was her husband. Melody looked uncomfortable but Brandon grinned as he went to follow Amanda to where the party would be. Melody followed her husband, but just as Mack was about to leave the foyer area and join the party, a girl who looked the same age as Mack emerged from the staircase.

"Those two are sooooooo annoying, they should just divorce already. At least I'd always get two birthday and Christmas presents." The girl said to Mack, and Mack could tell she wasn't joking to make light of a bad situation. Mack decided to not comment on the matter, not wanting to be rude, so she just sent the girl a small smile.

The girl was a typical Los Santos stunner. Beautiful tanned sun-kissed skin, long legs, blonde hair and a rock hard body just like her mother's. Mack was more of an innocent looking girl next door type, so she even felt inadequate next to this girl. The girl smiled, unaware of how the girl in her presence felt, before speaking up.

"So, are you here for my parent's lame party? It's so pathetic how they're pretending to be teenagers again, they're not fooling anybody." The girl said, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, my brother Brandon invited me, so I tagged along..." Mack responded, unsure of how to respond adequately, not knowing whether to join in with what the girl was saying or not.

"Brandon is your brother? Brandon Lancaster?" The girl asked, to which Mack gave a large nod "Omigosh! Brandon is sooo cool, he's been here when I have had friends over and they all think he's really hot."

Mack just laughed it off and ran her hand through her hair. She felt awkward, and suddenly regretted her decision to come to the party. This girl was nice enough, she seemed a little shallow and superficial, but most people were in this city. But this girl was the only person who would be her age here, apparently everyone else would be older than Brandon even. If she felt she couldn't relate to this girl, what hope did she have relating to rich middle aged people?

The doorbell rang, which broke up the awkward silence, and Mack sighed a little in relief as the girl bounded down the stairs and opened the door.

"Oh, yeah, you're the guy that my dad has adopted aren't you? It's because my real brother is a fat sack of shit, so I guess I don't blame him." Amanda's daughter said as she opened the door "What's your name again?"

"Franklin?" Mack asked, her eyes wide with shock as she saw a very familiar looking person enter the room, one of the people she least expected to see walk through the door.

"Oh hey, it's you. Man, I didn't know you know Michael!" Franklin explained, going to Mack and giving her a fist bump, which Mack responded by mirroring his actions, feeling a little awkward as she did, as she didn't usually greet people this way.

"I don't. I'm here with my brother." Mack said to Franklin.

"Her brother is Brandon Lancaster." Amanda's daughter spoke up, and Mack looked at her and saw she had a huge grin on her face.

"That guy is your brother?" Franklin asked, and Mack nodded, feeling shocked at the 'small world' moment that was unfolding.

"DADDY! THAT FRANKLIN GUY IS HERE!" The daughter shouted loudly towards the living area where the party was being held, and Mack held her hands to her ears at how loud the girl's shrill voice was, but sent a small smile to show she wasn't being rude when she was done.

Over all the background noise Mack could hear a loud sigh, and eventually footsteps into the foyer area where the three youngest occupants of the house were standing. The man of the house appeared in front of them, and he was exactly how she imagined. This was Michael, the 'cuck' that Brandon was talking about. He was a typical Rockford Hills cashed up white guy. Fairly expensive suit, white shirt, neat gelled hair, a few wrinkles across his brow. There wasn't anything wrong with being a stereotypical rich guy, but Mack thought it was amusing how well he played the part.

"Franklin, good to see you. I'm glad you took my advice and hired some company to these events, it makes you look more like someone who knows what they're doing when you bring dates." Michael said to Franklin, and it took Mack a few seconds to realise he was talking about her. It took a few seconds after that to realise what he was implying.

Most people would be offended if someone called them an escort, whether that be that the person was implying they look trashy, or not intelligent enough for a proper job. Mack would be lying if she said she wasn't a tiny bit offended. But Mack was too polite to get abusive at the stranger's mistake, and instead decided to take the comment with a bit of humour, and a bit of flattery as well.

"I don't know what's more awkward. The fact I have to tell you I'm actually not a prostitute, or that Franklin has to tell you he didn't take your advice." Mack snorted, trying her hardest to not show in her voice any signs of offense.

"Yeah, I know her, but she ain't here with me." Franklin explained, and it was only now that the slightly slow daughter finally caught on to what Michael meant.

"Daddy! You can't go around calling people prostitutes and you definitely can't call this girl one. She's Brandon's sister!" The daughter hissed at her father.

Mack was beginning to get really confused. She knew her brother was well-liked and popular, but she didn't know he was this well known. Even Franklin, a random guy from Strawberry seemed to know him, and the residents of this house seemed to act like he was royalty. Mack didn't know what she was expecting Michael to say after his daughter corrected him, but she wasn't expecting what actually came out of his mouth.

"Oh fuck..." he exclaimed, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh fuck, indeed. Would you like to go upstairs and get away from my creepy dad? We can laugh at people's LifeInvader profiles." The daughter offered.

Mack looked at Michael, who was averting his eyes and ignoring her gaze. Mack definitely didn't feel like hanging around the middle aged people now

"Sounds good. I'll catch up with ya later, Franklin." Mack said to Franklin, before bounding up the staircase with her new acquaintance


	6. Chapter 6

**I just finished a weekend of binge playing GTA V (instead of doing assignments, oops) but it's given me heaps of good ideas for this story - it's going to go in different (but much better) directions than I was planning. Mainly that Mackenzie will actually help out in a few missions. Not all - I'm trying to not copy my favourite authors on here and I'm not rehashing the entire game to fit Mackenzie in, but it'll be good when she does join in. The rest will be original content.**

 **The story will be a bit better when she knows the characters a bit better. I also can't freakin' wait to put Trevor in - he'll be in soon. It's going to be great.**

* * *

"I can't believe someone would actually put that on LifeInvader" Mack shrieked, giggling as she put the glass of wine to her mouth and took a sip.

"I know. Why would you post that unless you wanted the whole world to know you were a slut?" Tracey giggled, skipping the wine glass and putting her bottle of wine straight to her lips.

Tracey had taken the slightly (one year) younger girl to her room, where they began to hang out. It was here they exchanged names, and small anecdotes as they played a round of 'why would you put that on the internet' going through random peoples pages. Mack tried to always come off as a sensible, mature young person who had her life together. A rarity for a twenty-one year old. But trolling and judging people on the internet was a secret pleasure of hers, and she was glad she found someone to share that experience with.

They were currently looking at the photo of a girl. She was pretty, at least that's what the angle of the photo, the truck load of makeup and the three filters on the photo indicated. The funny part was though, the comments of course. The girl had expected stupid stuff like "dayum, hot mami" and "ur so pretty hun xx" but instead had people complimenting her clothes and accessories. She kept dropping hints until she could take more, and actually demanded people call her hot. This amused Tracey and Mack greatly.

"I am soooooo drunk. I've been drinking since two, but daddy doesn't know." Tracey informed Mack, draining the last of her bottle and putting it down.

Mack raised an eyebrow. Tracey did seem fairly tipsy, but Mack didn't know the girl well enough to be able to judge her level of drunkness. Mack didn't really know what to say, because she didn't know Tracey well enough. Was this a common thing? Was it cool? Or was it kind of sad?

"I'm a bit tipsy, I need to get more wine to catch up." Mack responded.

"I'll get you some more from Mom and Dad's stash." Tracey grinned, jumping off her bed and eventually stumbling out the door, leaving Mack by herself.

Mack took a look around the girl's room, and envisioned this is what all the popular girls would have had their room like back in high school. She had the walls an expensive looking blue wallpaper, heaps of picture frames with lots of photos with friends, and expensive items littered through the room. To be fair, Mack's room was similar back in high school, but she couldn't help but to envy Tracey's current lifestyle, which mirrored one that Mack enjoyed in the past.

After then awkwardly sitting on her phone for a few minutes, it occurred to Mack that Tracey was taking a while to grab alcohol. She heaved herself off of the bed she was sitting on, and nervously crept outside, unsure of who was out there and what to expect.

The second storey was completely deserted, but the stairs weren't. Mack saw Tracey had completely passed out on the stairs, looking dramatic as she was sprawled out everywhere.

Mack took a second to decide what to do. Should she leave her there in case it was dangerous to move her? Should she move her to bed? Should she go grab a pillow and a blanket? Mack decided it was best to inform Tracey's parents, so she awkwardly stepped over the passed out girl, and made her way down to the party.

As she entered the downstairs area, she realised it was the first time she was really entering the party. Mack wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting, and couldn't put a finger on whether this was or was not what she should expect. It seemed like more of a low key affair than a party, which seems weird for rich people as you expect them to go all out. But Mack had only ever attended high school and college parties which were crazy, so rich people would do the opposite of that.

It was a small affair, Mack was guessing maybe fifteen attendees tops, but that was without actually counting the number of actual guests. Most people were surrounding the lady of the house, Amanda. Included in those two were Brandon and Melody, Brandon was seated next to Amanda and she was actually rubbing his thigh.

Michael however, was on the other side of the room, almost in the kitchen, and not paying any attention to his wife. He had two people next to him, Franklin and another man the same age as himself.

"If I holla at Mackenzie, yo stupid ass not gonna say something dumb, right?" Franklin asked Michael.

"You into this girl?" Michael asked, taking a long sip of his whiskey on the rocks.

"Naw man, it's not like that. She a good girl, she might bring some stability to my life, to get Tanisha back." Franklin said to Michael, feeling annoyed that he had to defend his friendship with her to Lamar, and now Michael.

"I feel so wrong, but I can't keep my eyes off her. In that dress she has the body of a woman, but she's so baby faced and innocent looking. I feel like I have conflicting feelings." Hayden Dubose, Michael's neighbour joked, leaving Michael to shake his head.

"Well I think that your three ex wives will agree you'd fuck anything that moves, so that's barely a compliment." Michael grumbled, unimpressed with his neighbour's comment. The girl in question had a very cute, innocent face, but that's why Hayden's comment made him feel uneasy. She was just an innocent kid, not a sex object. She looked the same age as his daughter, so sexual comments from Hayden were not appreciated by Michael.

"Maybe this one can be wife number four." Hayden grinned, elbowing Michael in the side.

"Hayden, shut the fuck up and stop being a dick. She's just a kid." Michael growled, growing impatient with Hayden.

Hayden only chuckled to himself as he walked away, Michael wasn't sure whether it was due to the fact Hayden was so drunk he didn't understand Michael's outburst or was just amused at it.

"Bit hypocritical don't you think?" Franklin asked, and Michael knew immediately he was referring to earlier, when he implied he thought the young girl was a paid escort.

"That's different, Frank. I didn't get a good look at her, but now you can see how far removed she is from that lifestyle." Michael said, nodding towards the lone girl.

She had filled up her cup with the punch provided, and was standing by herself. Her brother and sister-in-law were too pre occupied with other party guests, so Mack was standing alone away from everyone, taking small sips as she looked around the room. She wanted to join Franklin as he was the only one she knew, but saw he was with Michael, and she was intimidated, as well as a little nervous to join them.

However, the second Franklin beckoned Mack over, she took no hesitation as she quickly bounded over, making sure her drink was fairly full so she could take sips if there were any awkward silences.

"We all cool, yeah?" Franklin asked, the second Mack joined them.

Michael made sure to keep his eyes on the girl, her reaction was important. If she told her brother he called her an escort, it could be bad news for Michael. Brandon wasn't violent himself, he just had other people do his work for him. The charismatic young man was the "connections" guy in the Los Santos underworld, if you needed a job done, he would find you the right guy. If you knew the right guy but the right guy wasn't interested, he would convince the right guy to become interested. Therefore insulting his younger sister was dangerous.

"We're cool. I'm flattered anyway. If you think I'm attractive enough that people would pay for my company, that's a good thing. Unless you think I'm one of those fetish ones that cater to a weird niche market..." Mack beamed, only adding the last part as a joke to lighten the mood.

"I never see any of that shit at the club, does that shit even exist off the Internet?" Franklin asked Michael, but it was Mack who responded.

"Yep, I've not only seen them, but also done their accounts for them. They make a lot, but they don't have regular or guaranteed work like their plain prostitute and stripper counterparts." Mack grinned, the alcohol having more effect on her than she originally thought, as she was opening up to someone she didn't know very well, and a complete stranger.

"I've never heard someone refer to sex workers as plain," Michael chuckled, but then turned serious as he processed what Mack had been saying "You did accounts for them? How?"

"Well, once upon a time I had a friend who got involved in that work. She's not a friend anymore because apparently I'm not feminist enough and I support the patriarchy or some shit, I mean this girl's job is literally to be submissive and do whatever mostly married men want her to do, but no, I'm the one letting the sisterhood down for unknown reasons," Mack started ranting, but stopped when she realised what she was doing "Sorry, sore spot."

Even though Michael was supposed to be annoyed at a barely out of her teens girl having a rant about little friendship problems, he couldn't help to be amused. There was no denying this girl was funny, even though she wasn't trying to be. He had never seen his daughter or her friends talk like this, and it was giving him amusement in his sad, sorry life. It was a breath of fresh air to not hear about stereotypical Gen Y bullshit.

"Go on." Michael stated, surprising both Franklin and Mack.

"Well, in college, some girls become sex workers to get by. You know what? All the power to them. I know we're meant to look down on them, but they're out there pulling more money than their non sex worker counterparts. ANYWAY, for reasons I'm not comfortable explaining, I didn't go into sex work and just did regular retail stuff." Mack began explaining, waiting for the 'uh huh' or some acknowledgement from the two people she was storytelling to, being fearful she was blabbering on like she sometimes does.

When she got that from both Franklin and Michael, as well as serious interest, she continued.

"But the friend I mentioned a second ago, she took me to coffee once and asked for financial advice. She was making serious money but couldn't put it into her bank account or invest it properly because of the fact it was obtained illegally." Mack explained, and was going to continue the story until Michael interrupted to ask her something.

"What was your advice to her?" Michael asked. The advice that Mack gave wasn't relevant to the story, but Michael wanted to test whether this girl knew her stuff or was just trying to tell an interesting story to impress them both. Michael enjoyed the entertainment nevertheless, but he was too curious to see how legitimate this girl was.

"Oh, easy," Mack responded, being caught off guard a little but she smiled as she took a sip of wine "we registered a business name for her and she created fake invoices for all the money she collected. Not a hundred percent of it, but majority of it. I don't think she ever got caught, I used to help her with tax returns too, now I feel kind of bad as a legitimate tax payer myself, that my scheme is so good she's stealing from the government. Oh well."

Michael held back comments about how stealing from the government wasn't such a bad thing as he continued his interrogation, wanting to be a hundred percent sure she still wasn't lying.

"What sort of business did you set up for her?" Michael asked.

"Photography. Something so damn easy to fudge, and something so unstable that no one is going to ask questions." Mack responded, a smug look on her face.

Michael was impressed, but didn't bother saying anything. He didn't feel the need to, and also Franklin got in there anyway.

"Wow, you one smart chick. Did you start doing it for other hookers and strippers and shit?" Franklin asked Mack, who was blushing brightly as she was usually quite modest, and wasn't used to compliments. She didn't usually tell many people this either, and she was feeling a little awkward and slightly regretful as it was starting to catch up with her.

"Well, uh, yeah, pretty much. A lot of them started coming to me, so I started charging a small fee for advice. I stopped doing it a while ago, though. I was starting to get spooked how many people started coming to me. A few people had heard too and wanted me to do more heavy and serious money laundering stuff for really bad illegal stuff. So I retired before I got in too deep." Mack explained quickly, hoping the subject would be done and dusted soon.

Her last line caught Michael's attention, as he empathised deeply. She was a smart kid that was for sure. Smarter than he was when he was younger. He may have retired for his family's sake, but this one retired before she desperately had to find a way out. She didn't need to screw over her only friends in the process.


	7. Chapter 7

**So I have a question if anyone reads this story (even if you read it down the line it's good to know) - how involved do you want Mack to be in the missions? I've got a few in mind she would be able to be inolved in, but if there's a huge demand for rewriting missions to fit in OCs, I can do that.**

 **Sorry if there's any typos. I'm posting this from my phone, I got out of the office really late tonight due to a work emergency so I didn't get to reread like I planned, I'll do it tomorrow when I'm not so tired.**

* * *

Aside from one brief stint where Mack sat with her brother and was introduced to the rich and beautiful people of the Rockford Hills/Vinewood area, she had spent the entire party with Franklin and Michael - well aside from the screaming match that Michael had with Amanda, Mack was obviously just with Franklin at that point.

One of the times that Brandon had jumped up to refill his glass, one of the party goers had taken Brandon's seat and tried to do what Brandon had been doing seconds before, by rubbing Amanda's thigh. Amanda had gone along with this new man's advances just as she did with Brandon, although she wasn't as enthusiastic about this new person's actions as she was with Brandon.

It must have been Mack's expression on her face, as for the first time tonight Michael finally looked at his wife and saw what was happening, and he clearly wasn't happy.

He grabbed the guy by the scruff of his collar, and pointed a gun at his face. Mack was the only one who gasped and quivered in fear, but Franklin gave her a pat on the shoulder in kindness to reassure her she was safe.

So was the stranger it seemed as once Michael backed him out of the house he only slammed the door and went to get another drink, before starting on Amanda.

It was so loud that Mack was surprised no one called the police, but then she remembered the property was so big that no matter how loud their screaming match was, their voices probably didn't carry over to their neighbours. Mack tried to not eavesdrop to be polite as she started conversation with Franklin, but it was hard to ignore Michael screaming about his wife being a "whore" and Amanda screaming back every insult under the sun.

The screaming match seemed to kill the mood as majority of party goers started leaving, whilst the very small number that stayed scattered around the house. Even Franklin and Mack moved to the kitchen when things started to be thrown, but they still remained closest to the action.

Finally Amanda decided to storm upstairs, leaving Michael downstairs alone with only Franklin and Mack. Mack saw a few people outside, but they made no moves to come back inside.

"God damn whore, ruining the party." Michael muttered, pouring himself a full glass of straight whiskey and downing it in one go.

Mack kept her comments to herself. She didn't agree with what Amanda was doing behind his back, but Michael was the one who made the big scene, thus "ruining" the party himself.

All was soon forgotten when they made their way to the lounge room and kept drinking whilst watching trashy tv.

A few hours later, they were all quite affected by alcohol. The huge amount of whiskey was finally taking its toll on Michael, as he was muttering rants and throwing empty bottles. Franklin was listening, but every now and again bringing every topic back to his ex girlfriend, Tanisha. Mack was just listening intently.

She had ended up sitting on the ground with her back against the couch that Michael and Franklin were sitting against. Amanda had left behind some expensive champagne which Michael said Mack could have as neither Franklin nor himself drank champagne, making her grin. She was sitting on the floor of a mansion drinking expensive champagne straight from the bottle. It doesn't get more rock and roll than that.

"So what's your story?" Franklin asked Mack, after finally wrapping about the Tanisha chronicles "Someone who's happy don't spend the night hanging around our sorry asses"

Michael let out a snort and a sarcastic remark at Franklin's comment.

"Her and her brother have won the genetic lottery, inherited a small fortune and both seem to have the charisma of Hitler. She doesn't have any problems."

Mack frowned at Michael's comments. Brandon must have told him about their inheritance, but Mack hated when people bought it up. She wasn't "lucky" to have a house and liquid assets at twenty one, she was unlucky to have lost her parents at twenty one. The other stuff was all rubbish too. Usually she wasn't outspoken, but she couldn't help herself this time.

"My problems may be superficial compared to the real struggles of life, but I do have them, thank you very much. I'm a friendless loner living in my popular brother's shadow. I'm socially awkward, and I have to be so careful about who I date to make sure I'm not used." Mack uttered, but her explanation didn't gather any sympathy, especially from Michael.

"Grow up, kid. You go alright for a young girl, but you gotta take the rest of the world in consideration. So you have two hundred friends instead of a thousand, so what? Money aside, all young girls these days have to worry about guys using them, but yours is money instead of guys like him," Michael stated, pointing to Franklin "wanting to pump and dump"

Mack was silent for a moment, absorbing everything Michael said, until a smile spread across her face.

"Yeah, you're right, but it's the little problems that show us that life can be beautiful. It puts everything into perspective and makes you realise if that's the only issue in your life, your life is pretty great." Mack smiled.

"Yeah, right. That logic only applies when you're a wide eyed kid that the world hasn't fucked over yet. You'll think the world owes you one day." Michael grumbled, but shot a wink at Mack when she started frowning.

* * *

"Well it's been a pleasure gentlemen, but I must be off." Mack declared, rising to her feet as she grabbed her handbag.

It had now been a few hours since the party had dissolved due to the fight between Michael and Amanda. The very few people hanging around outside had left a little earlier, leaving Michael, Franklin and Mackenzie to their own devices.

Mack mostly hung around as she wasn't sure where her brother and sister-in-law had wound up, but after two hours of waiting she decided it was fair game to go home. They had either already left, or worse case went upstairs with Amanda. Either way they were in a position to get home by themselves.

Mack had been drinking for a while and was spent. Luckily because she had drank a lot over a long time, rather than a lot in a small time, she wasn't wasted, just buzzed.

"You off?" Franklin asked Mack, who sent a nod in response.

"I'll call you a cab." Michael offered.

"Oh, that's okay. I live about a fifteen minute walk away, I'll be okay." Mack protested.

"You sure kid? You've been drinking, and Los Santos is a dangerous place." Michael stated.

"Psh, please. It's Rockford Hills, not Chamberlain Hills," Mack scoffed, but then quickly turned to Franklin "No offense."

"Well, you do have a point." Michael chuckled.

"Man, while I do agree with you, fuck your rich people thinking." Franklin muttered, clearly unimpressed with the two from the higher socio economic background.

"In all seriousness, I'll be fine, I used to walk around late all the time when I was younger." Mack stated, as she started heading to the door. The other two made no effort to get up, so she stayed where she was to say goodbye.

"See ya round, kid." Michael said to Mack.

"Yeah, nice meeting you. I'm sure I'll see you again sometime soon, Frank. Hit me up on LifeInvader, keep me updated with the Tanisha sitch." Mack said to Franklin.

"Will do, homie. Stay safe." Franklin greeted.

Mack gave a small wave as she walked out the door and clicked it behind her. She then walked out to the street.

The night was silent, completely silent. In her area of the more "affordable" part of Rockford Hills, you could always hear the crickets churping when the warm summer breeze hit your skin. But here, nothing. The rich housewives probably called the exterminators the second they saw a small insect. That is not a way to live.

When she was younger she used to go for walks all the time around here and imagine she lived in one of these big mansions. She almost resented her father for living on the outskirts in a moderate sized house, than a sprawling mansion in the centre, like Michael.

As she grew up she realised economic and social things she didn't know in her mid teens. Rockford Hills was affluent to your average Los Santos resident, but the elite still laughed at them. It was an area where a lot of "new money" people lived. It was for people who had a lot of money and no sense, and for people who couldn't afford to live in the old money area of Vinewood. So they went to the next suburb over and built large houses on the cheap to try and flaunt their cash.

Not only did the average Rockford Hills resident have a superiority complex, they were riddled with social problems too. Affairs in the rich and famous community were nearly as old as time, but it seemed the entire suburb were too stupid to hide them. Mack had actually read a study once that said Rockford Hills had the highest number of marriage issues in the city. It seemed like the entire suburb were like Michael, marrying girls who were beautiful, but gold digging.

In short, Mack was happy with her little home, than living in a big lie.

It didn't take long for the mega mansions to disappear and large, moderate homes to take their places. What were mega mansions in the 1960s are the houses that lined Mack's street, as the area closer to Vinewood was the older part of Rockford Hills.

Mack arrived at the front of her driveway, and noticed all the lights in the house on. Three am, it was strange fot Callum, her housemate, to have not passed out by then.

Mack headed inside, finding Callum sitting on the couch, drinking a beer, staring at the twitched off TV in front of him.

"What did you get up to tonight?" Mack asked, pondering if she should grab a drink to join him but then decided against it as she felt it was the end of the night, and alcohol would be a bad idea.

"Lucy dumped me, bitch." He muttered, taking a swig of his bottle.

Callum was a nice person, and one of the only true friends that Mack had left. He had looked over her when she had gotten wasted on a night out, and was always there for her when she needed to rant.

That said, he had his downsides too. He was a terrible housemate for many reasons, all of which are irrelevant right now. He put down a lot of people and was jealous of success. He also had a few misogynist undertones about him, feeling he was entitled to women purely because he was a "nice guy" in college with a job. Whilst they may be qualities that women look for in a man, he made next to no effort to get to know women or even find them. So lately, he had turned to internet dating.

"How many dates did you go on?" Mack asked, taking a seat on the couch next to Callum to lend an ear for him to whine to.

"Two, now I hear nothing. Stupid bitch is fat and ugly, she should be taking what she can get, I'm so out of her league." Callum muttered.

Mack could tell he was drunk by his abusive anger. He only was ever this straight forward when he was drunk. However as she was tipsy herself, she didn't much feel like sugar coating things.

"I told you, girls like a bit of a challenge. If you appear needy, they run away. They're all stuck up bitches deep down that think they're special snowflakes and any nice guy that's interested is labeled a stalker if you try too hard. Yet then you started calling her five times a day." Mack harshly stated.

"Yeah, well, Samuel told me to keep trying because girls like persistence. No offense Mackenzie but he's married, so I took his advance." Callum ranted.

"Asking a married man how to up your game is like asking an obese person for diet tips. It's pointless, he quit the game early." Mack stated, trying to keep a calm and neutral tone.

She expected Callum to argue back, especially considering the Samuel guy she insulted was Callum's ultimate best friend. However, he started laughing uncontrollably.

"Comparing married people advice to fat people advice. Good one." He snorted.

"Well now that we're leaving that on a positive note - I'm off to bed. Night." Mack grinned, getting off from the couch and walking into her room.

She didn't bother brushing her teeth or washing her makeup off. Hell, she wasn't even going to bother getting changed into pyjamas and ended up just stripping down before she climbed into bed.

Just before she drifted off to sleep she remembered she hadn't checked her Drone Phone in a while. She had been so busy hanging with Michael and Franklin her phone had remained untouched, a weird phenomenon for people her age.

But she had to check it before bed to ease her mind, and she saw she had a text message from David - the detective.

She smiled as she read the message

 _'Hey, just had a quick late night call out to question a bat shit person - immediately thought of you. Haha, just kidding. In all seriousness though, goodnight xx'_

Mack and David had been texting a lot since their last meeting when she got dragged into the police station by her uncle. Most nights he did text her goodnight, but this was the first time he put kisses.

Mack quickly texted back a half arsed "night" being too tired and half drunk to reply properly, before she instantly fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Just so we're all clear, David the detective is NOT Dave Norton. I specified his age is pretty close to Mack's, but I just want to make it all clear.**

 **Next chapter is when the missions will start. Because I wasn't going to have any missions I've had to change a few things (mostly the timeline) so I'll start tying up a few loose ends next chapter top. You'll know exactly where in the GTA V timeline this story is too**

* * *

It had been a fairly ordinary day for Mack. She was busy furiously emailing clients, trying to fix a mistake a (now ex) co-worker had made by accidentally forwarding internal emails to clients that didn't say very nice things about them. Mack had tried to do a recall, but some were not able to be recalled in time, so Mack was emailing and periodically calling the clients to arse kiss and apologise. Most of them were actually in a good mood when Mack explained those employees had been fired, so the task wasn't as bad as it seemed.

It also gave Mack the opportunity to exchange emails with David. She wasn't able to text him, as her manager would definitely not be too happy if Mack was on her phone, but she was definitely able to sit on her computer with her emails open.

 _So what did those emails say? It actually sounds pretty amusing. Most definitely more interesting than my day, I am just sitting here with a mountain of paperwork._

Mack giggled at David's response, nervously looking around to double check no one was reading over her shoulder before she continued on with her response.

 _Oh, just two lazy guys having a whinge about the job they're paid to do. They just went on a foul mouthed tirade that is being named the "C U Next Tuesday" chronicles. Personally I prefer "Charlie Uniform November Tango-gate" because I am not too retarded to not use the phonetic alphabet, and this is freakin' America where we add suffix gate onto any drama._

It actually took David a little while to reply to this one, Mack actually got through three more clients. One was her first angry client, who Mack offered to send free gifts for the inconvenience, and he was angry as he hung up but had calmed down a little. The second was the complete opposite, he thought it was hilarious that he received the email, and even more hilarious the careless idiots got fired. The third hadn't even seen the email yet, and Mack convinced him to delete it before viewing it.

But finally, after anxiously refreshing her inbox many times, a response from David popped up.

 _You sure are an interesting one, that's for sure. Speaking of drama I have a good people watching experience for us, going down in a couple of minutes. You down? I can't say much over email, but it's going to be good._

Mack considered taking a while to respond to not appear desperate, but she really wanted to see David. She hadn't been able to catch up with him recently as he was very busy with work, so she wanted to take this opportunity to see him. Besides, if a guy was put off by such trivial things as a quick response, she figured it was better to be rid of him earlier.

 _Sounds good. When is your lunch break? I can take mine whenever?_

David seemed to not mind that he may appear too needy either, as he responded just as quickly.

 _I guess I'll meet you at the downstairs cafe in 10? Email me if this isn't suitable_

Mack didn't bother with a response as she jumped up and grabbed her bag. She had ten minutes to go to the bottom of her building where the cafe was, but she wanted to quickly take a detour to the bathroom to fluff up her hair and re apply makeup.

* * *

"Hey you." David smiled at Mack, taking in her appearance as he reached out to hug her.

"Hey." Mack smiled brightly, accepting the hug and having a hard time unwinding herself from his arms.

David himself had a hard time letting go of her, and couldn't stop grinning to himself. He was ridiculously attracted to the girl, and couldn't stop thinking about her. He was glad he lost his nerves and was able to ask her out again, finding the courage in the most trivial thing he could.

"Take a seat outside, I'll buy your coffee and lunch." David smiled.

Mack protested and tried to offer the cash, but he refused as he headed inside. Mack took a seat in the sun and looked upon the bustling Los Santos streets. She smiled a bit as she closed her eyes for a split second and stretched out, enjoying the sun. Summer was nearly over, which meant that it was nearly time for Mack to return to university. She had been slow in obtaining her degree, as she took a year off college nearly two years ago to work, and kept doing part time classes instead of full time, but this year she was going to go full time and get herself into gear. If she did full time from here on in she would be able to graduate in two years.

David returned not too long after, smiling as he sat down.

"I got you a toasted cheese, hope that's alright." David smiled at her.

Mack nodded, smiling back at him, realising his smile was really contagious.

"So, are you wondering why I called you down here?" David asked her.

Mack tried to keep calm and control her breathing. In all honesty she forgot he invited her down here for a good opportunity to 'people watch' as she was more excited to spend more time with him, and that's all she could think while she quickly got ready. But she didn't want to seem desperate or too needy, so she needed to keep her cool.

"Anything to break up the work day, honey." Mack winked at him, and this time it was David who got nervous.

"Well, there is this really funny, but highly dangerous and psychotic well known criminal known in the Los Santos area. Well, there are a lot of criminals we'd love to catch but they're too crafty and can make people disappear too quickly..." David began grumbling, but caught himself going off on a rant, and wanting to keep his date's attention he went back on topic "But this one, is stupid and funny. His name is Peter Lithrow."

"How is he funny? What does he do?" Mack asked curiously, already smiling at how amusing this might turn out.

"He's pretty much a shit kicker for the big criminals, but they've made sure he can't be tied to them. He does petty crimes for them. Therefore he's loud and obnoxious thinking they're going to take out hits to keep him out of jail, but we don't think they will. They've funded his lawyer who's taking care of it the legal way." David mentioned.

"What do you mean his lawyer is taking care of it?" Mack asked David, completely absorbed in his story.

"It's a well known practise for big crime bosses to hire a corrupt lawyer for their grunts. The grunt thinks the crime bosses are looking out for them, and they feel more loyal and are more likely to keep their mouth shut. In return, the lawyer also tells the client to plea guilty, keeping the crime bosses out of everything. If the grunt is smart enough to realise he's been played, by the time that comes around it's already too late. They're in jail and no one would believe them." David explained.

Mack didn't know how to take the news. She was horrified that such corrupt people would take advantage of the desperate like that. But then again, if you chose to do crime for a living, she believed you deserved such a fate. It was also easy to be impressed in a morbid way. It was smart. Damn corrupt, but smart.

"How do we come into this equation? What does Peter Lithrow have to do with us coming out of our offices to do people watching?" Mack asked, just as the coffees and sandwiches were placed on their tables.

"Peter Lithrow is turning himself in. He's going to make a big debacle about it. I see this stuff all the time, but I thought you might get a rise out of it. I'm not entirely sure when he will be around, but it will be soon." David grinned.

"Okay." Mack smiled, taking a bite out of her sandwich and taking a sip of coffee.

"So, remember how last time I joked about looking you up on the database?" David asked Mack.

Mack narrowed her eyes. She wasn't creeped out like most girls would be. They did joke through their heavy texting that David could do a background check on her to see if she was "worth" the official third date. She was just more careful of what he would find out.

"Did you do it?" Mack asked, keeping a neutral tone as she was trying her hardest to not come across in certain ways.

"I certainly did. Nothing too bad, I mean... yeah," David started, stumbling across his words "I hope you're okay after certain events I saw. Your ex boyfriend sounds nasty."

Mack sighed a breath of relief, feeling relieved he only bought up her domestic violence complaints about her ex, and the restraining order she filed.

However David thought this was the tension part about going through Mack's file, and tried to bring up something else in a light hearted way. Unfortunately, this was the part that Mack was not happy about.

"I had no idea your name wasn't Mackenzie..." David started.

"It is, actually. It's the name I go by, therefore it's my name." Mack snapped at David, but immediately felt guilty and awful.

As did David clearly, as he tried to add onto Mack's statement.

"You're right, sorry. It is technically your name anyway, as it is your middle name." David said, feeling really awkward now that his attempt to impress his love interest actually went the other way.

"No, I'm sorry," Mack began, looking down as she felt really bad "I just really never liked my name. For as long as I can remember I've gone by my middle name - Mackenzie. Sometimes I even forget my first name is my real name. If I ever go to the doctors or whatever, it takes me a second to realise they're talking about me when they call out my name."

"Well at least I know now. Damn Mack, you make me feel so nervous, so nervous I'm scared to say this and drive you away, but I see myself with you for a long time. So it's good for me to know." David said to Mack, sending her a smile as he grabbed her hand over the table, hiding the fact that on the inside he was just a bundle of nerves.

"It's okay, I feel the same way." Mack smiled at him, making no move to remove her hand from his.

The sweet moment only lasted a few more seconds, as loud shouting broke them apart. In their sweet moment they didn't see the flashy car drive and park outside the police station, with a deranged looking man and his lawyer, the one in an expensive suit, exit the car.

"I ain't fuckin' giving in. This is bullshit. If that fuckin' girl didn't want to overdose on heroin, that's her issue and she shouldn't have taken it!" Peter yelled to no-one in particular, spooking all the passbyers who quickly rushed away.

Mack looked at David for an explanation on what Peter was saying, and David was glad to elaborate.

"He groomed a fourteen year old who ran away from home. He used to give her heroin, and she overdosed. Not only is he being charged with many offenses over that, detectives uncovered a heroin ring." David explained.

Mack shook her head, and continued on with watching Peter. It was like a bad trainwreck, she couldn't keep her eyes off it.

Peter kept shouting nonsense, to the point where a few uniformed police officers came running out to try and subdue him. Unfortunately, their efforts were fruitless.

"Do what you want, mortals! I have been blessed with super strength and you can't stop me!" Peter shouted loudly, fighting the police officers off him.

Before Mack could ask what that was all about, David rose from the coffee table.

"I'll explain later. Wait here, I better go lend a hand, before he causes any more trouble." David stated.

Mack only swiftly nodded her head, as she kept her eyes on David as he strode off.

She watched him approach Peter, and talk to him. He was aggressive at first, but whatever David was saying was calming him down. Mack thought he was possibly trying to play good cop to try and take Peter inside. However out of nowhere, David was able to throw Peter on the ground, grabbing some handcuffs from a uniformed officer who was standing next to them. He swiftly handcuffed Peter and dragged the criminal up, before shoving him into the arms of the uniformed cop.

Mack couldn't help but to stare in wonder. David was so fast, and so strong. Usually it's uniforms that women swoon over, but watching David fight crime in person made him seem even more attractive to Mack than she thought was possible. She was now completely smitten.

David exchanged a few words with the police officers nearby as they waited for more backup to drag Peter inside. When the street was once cleared, and Peter's lawyer ran after everyone, David finally returned to Mack.

"Yeah so, I want to be sarcastic and pretend nothing major just happened, but wow. That was awesome." Mack said to David, not being entirely sure on how she should compliment him.

"In Los Santos, it's pretty important for a cop to have strength, even when they become a detective," David grinned "Enough about me, what are your plans for the weekend?"

David honestly hadn't set that up, his original plan was to just impress Mack with a funny psycho. He wasn't even planning on impressing her when he ran over. He saw some uniforms that needed help, and went to go help. But he was willing to bask in his glory, and couldn't help but to feel proud as he saw the looks of admiration that she was shooting him.

"Um, well I made a new friend last weekend, Tracey. She lives near me, so I said I'd go over on Saturday and hang with her for a bit, why?" Mack asked him.

"Let's do something Sunday, you and I. We've never properly planned anything and you're worth so much more than that." David stated, finding himself a little more courageous than usual after the feat that just happened.

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 **I was going to give individual shout outs to all who have followed/favourited, but I had a quick chance to update through my phone, this would have been out a lot later otherwise. Thank you to all, I really appreciate it. I'll give you all a proper shoutout next chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Firstly, I just want to stress, minor things are being changed for this story in relation to missions. This chapter features the mission Father/Son. The main difference will be that Franklin and Michael have spent some time together inbetween the repo of Jimmy's car, and this mission. Because of this and because of the insertion of my OC, the dialogue will be different too. I'm trying to keep the canon stuff in the same order mostly and there won't be too many changes, just a few things at the start to make everything make sense.**

 **I'll give my thank yous and shout outs at the bottom I promised.**

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It was a sunny day in Los Santos. Tracey De Santa and her new found friend, Mackenzie, were laying in the sun by the pool. Tracey had tanning oil on to maintain her perfect sun kissed skin, whilst Mackenzie had slathered on sun screen to stop her pale skin from burning up.

Tracey's mother, Amanda De Santa, was also laying with the two girls, trying to work up a tan. She was also speaking with the two, much to Tracey's dismay.

Mackenzie had just finished telling both Tracey and Amanda the story of David overcoming the criminal, and both women were impressed.

"Wow," Amanda sighed, closing her eyes with a smile on her face "What a stud. You'd never see Michael do anything like that."

Mack felt awkward as she didn't know how to respond to Amanda, but luckily Tracey spoke up before she could.

"That is like, seriously so awesome! I wish Eric was that cool!" Tracey remarked.

Tracey had mentioned Eric in passing, but Mack didn't know the extent of Tracey's relationship with him. Mack knew he was a night club promoter that had gotten Tracey into club nights free, no lines and a few free drinks, but that's all she knew. Mack didn't know how long they were together for, hell she didn't even know if they were together.

"Eric is not 'cool' Tracey, he's a loser." Amanda scoffed, ignoring anything Tracey had to say after Eric was bought up.

"He's actually really successful mom! If you would just give him the chance you would see that!" Tracey fired back.

The whole fighting was making Mack feel awkward, who tried to keep out of it by grabbing her phone and checking LifeInvader. The furious scrolling of her news feed didn't seem to help much, as it seemed to be hard to not eavesdrop on the heated exchange.

"I'm not listening to this nonsense, I'm going inside!" Amanda declared, jumping up from her position and storming into the house.

Unfortunately for Amanda, Tracey was not having a bar of it, and marched into the house too.

Mack groaned, as she laid down further on the sunbed. At least the arguing was out of sight, but she was now in an awkward position. Should she leave? Would it be weird if she stayed? Would it be rude to go without saying bye?

All she could do was lie in the sun, and wait for the argument to pass.

"You're such a fucking dictator! Why the fuck not?" Mack heard Tracey scream at her mother.

"He is not staying the night! He's a bum!" Amanda screamed back.

The arguing continued between Amanda and Tracey. Mack eventually was able to start drowning them out as she became focused on a debate on LifeInvader. She did so well in ignoring the bickering mother and daughter she didn't notice the family patriarch exit through the sliding doors and land in front of Mack.

He stood in front of the sun lounge, waiting for the young girl to look up and notice him. When she didn't, he decided to sit in the lounge that was next to her. As he went down with a loud sigh, Mack finally looked up from her phone to see Michael sitting on the sun lounge next to hers. She smiled slightly, feeling a little awkward that she was outside unaccompanied.

"Hello…Michael." Mack greeted, unsure on how to greet him, but chose his first name as they had hung out previously.

"Yes, hello Mackenzie. Why is my daughter threatening to kill my wife?" Michael asked Mack, getting his Discman ready to put into his ears.

Mack wrinkled her nose at the obsolete piece of technology in Michael's hands, but decided to answer his question, not wanting to appear rude.

"I don't know. Something about Tracey's boyfriend, or something. I honestly tried to drown them out and not eavesdrop, sorry." Mack grinned to Michael, pointing to her phone, with LifeInvader up on her screen.

"I don't blame you, kid," Michael began, laying back in the sun lounge "I seem to be spending my entire home life drowning out my family's shit."

Mack gave a half smile and looked into the house and saw Tracey and Amanda were still arguing, with no signs of stopping anytime soon. She turned back to look at Michael, who was fumbling with the Discman. It was clear he was wanting to listen to it, so Mack knew she was now overstaying her welcome. She could easily just call out goodbye to Amanda and Tracey as she walked out the front to her car.

"Nice seeing you again. I guess I'll catchya later." Mack said to Michael, who only sent her a half wave as he put the ear buds into his ears and the music took over. He closed his eyes as the young girl walked away.

Before Mack could poke her head into the house to say goodbye, a familiar figure approached the almost comatose man on the sun lounge. Mack smiled widely, and changed paths as she jogged up to the newcomer.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" Mack asked Franklin, a smile plastered across her face as he greeted her with a fist bump.

"When I first met Michael, he was out back of the car I was repo'ing. He said we should go for a drink, I'm taking him up on it." Franklin explained to the girl.

"Wait, so let me get this straight," The girl laughed "You've hung out with Michael a few times since, exchanged stories, hell you've let Michael live vicariously through you. But now you're taking him up on the drink?"

"Damn right. That dude has a lot of advice to pass onto a nigga like me." Franklin responded to Mack, a huge grin on his face.

"I might stick around in that case, if you'd want me there…" Mack trailed off, less than subtly hinting for an invite.

"Yeah, a'ight." Franklin responded, and hinted for Mackenzie to follow him over to Michael. She obliged, and stood back as she was going to let Franklin deal with it.

She was glad she was staying back, as when Franklin appeared in front of Michael, he didn't look too happy to be interrupted as he pulled his ear buds out of his ear.

"What do you want?" Michael asked Franklin.

"Man, I come by for that drink you offered. That's all." Franklin stated.

"I wasn't really serious about that." Michael replied, an amused grin on his face, which Mack could tell was there for the same reasons that she grinned for before, when Franklin told her the same thing: that Franklin and Michael had spent time together previously, but Franklin was taking Michael up on the offer now.

"What?" Franklin asked, an amused smile on his face now too.

"You're here, whatever. Sit," Michael said to Franklin, but then realised that Mack was still on his property "Are you hanging around too?"

"Well, my housemate's parents are visiting. They're annoying as fuck to deal with, and lather on back handed compliments like crazy. I'd rather stay out as long as possible. That said, if you guys want some guy time and I'd be cramping your style, I'd-" Mack started rambling, but Michael cut her off.

"You can stay too. I need to use you as an example." Michael said nonchalantly, waving to the third spare sun lounge next to Franklin.

Mack swallowed a lump in her throat as she sat down. She didn't expect Michael to be enthusiastic about Mack's company, they weren't exactly the right people to be close friends. However, for someone to be so passive, and wanting her around as an 'example' didn't sit very well with her, and she wasn't to leave instantly as she didn't feel like Michael actually wanted her around, and only said yes for Franklin's sake.

"What can I do for ya?" Michael then said, turning to Franklin.

"Shit, I just came by to see if there's somethin' I can help you with. I always see you doin' well for yourself when we hang." Franklin responded to Michael.

Michael then looked at Mack, and could tell she was about to be used as whatever "example" that Michael had previously mentioned.

"You know, I've been in this game for a lot of years, and I got alive. By some miracle, I made it out alive. You look like a good kid. If you want my advice, you give this shit up. You work hard, screw over everybody you love, hurt, rob, kill indiscriminately and maybe… just maybe, if you're lucky, you become a three bit gangster. It's bullshit." Michael stated to Franklin.

Before Michael could continue on to Franklin with his advice, Mack's eyes widened, and she could barely stammer out what she wanted to say. "Y-y-you've killed people?"

"You got a gun to your head, what do you do? It's kill or be killed." Michael responded.

"Why were you in a position to be killed? What did you do?" Mack asked, narrowing her eyes at Michael.

It made sense. This is why he owned a big McMansion in the "new money" section of Rockford Hills and not the "old money" part of Vinewood Hills. This is why the "De Santas" were unknown, why she hadn't heard the name before. Her family weren't exactly old money themselves, but when her parents were alive they rubbed shoulders with them and were respected by old money. But the De Santas weren't there. Michael was a criminal who got his money through crime, so how the hell did he know Brandon?

Michael ignored Mack's panic, and turned back to Franklin.

"See, look at her. College student studying business. By the looks of her reaction, she doesn't even know about what her brother really does. She's removed from that world. Follow her steps. Go to college. Then you can rip people off and get paid for it. It's called capitalism." Michael said to Franklin.

Once again, Mack jumped in before Franklin could even get a word in.

"What the hell are you talking about? What do mean about my brother?" She asked, sitting up suddenly, giving a huge glare towards Michael.

"I'm just saying to Franklin, what he saw a couple of weeks ago was a guy dealing with pests." Michael stated, responding to Mack but directly ignoring her questions.

"I guess I never saw myself as a fuckin' pest." Franklin added.

"Well, then the day's lesson is about humility. Tomorrow we'll try a training montage." Michael responded to Franklin, grinning slightly.

"A training what?" Franklin asked, completely lost on where Michael was taking the conversation.

"Nothin'. I was just lost in an eighties movie fantasy." Michael grinned.

Mack had been spaced out for the past few moments as she was pondering to herself. She was about to find out a major secret about her brother, and she couldn't handle it. Her world was internally falling apart, and Michael was refusing to give her answers. But his last statement was amusing to Mack, and she smiled a little.

"Eighties movies were pretty good, they don't make them like that anymore." Mack smiled a little, which made Michael grin a little too.

The three went silent for a little while, Franklin was looking onto the two, as Michael was looking at Mack intently after her comment, and Mack was looking down at the floor, biting her lip.

"Alright, kid. I owe you an explanation, you're a good kid. Frank, you should take note of the conversation we're about to have. Might convince you to stay away." Michael said, getting up from the sun lounge.

Mack got up without saying a word, and began to follow Michael. Franklin was also hot on their tail.

"There's a little bar I like. It's not too far from here. Let's go." Michael said, as they went through the house, ignoring Amanda and Tracey's screaming match.

"Alright man, I'm following you." Franklin said.

They appeared out the front, and there were three cars in the driveway. A yellow Issi and a Red Dinka Blista on the far right. Mack knew the Issi was Tracey's, and the red Dinka Blista was her own car. The one they were approaching was an orange car, and Mack wasn't sure whose car it was, as she didn't know what kind of car Michael drove. Her question was answered soon enough.

"We're taking my wife's car." Michael stated, pointing to the car in front of them.

Franklin jumped in the front seat, so Mack hopped into the back. Michael got a call he quickly answered before he jumped into the driver's seat, which gave Mack a moment to confront Franklin.

"Frank, you know my brother. I'm sorry to bring this up, but you're an ex con from a complete different side of town. Michael has just admitted he's a criminal himself, who is a bit older than my brother. How do you both know him?" Mack asked Franklin, chewing her lip anxiously as she tried to get answers from him.

"Look, calm down homie. I ain't knowin' your brother from way back or some shit. I met him through Michael. Nothin' serious. I'm sure Michael can explain it soon." Franklin admitted.

Mack just nodded, not wanting to annoy Franklin, especially considering he considers her a 'homie'

Michael let out a huge annoyed sigh as he finished his phone call and entered the car.

"Alrighty then. Change of plans. My darling boy is in trouble."

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 **Huge shout outs to BlackCat9288, Tyvot, hampy1, saramaesquidgy and yingyang754 for favouriting this story. Also to Tyvot, hampy1, saramaesquidgy, yingyang754 and Face Gang for following this story :)**

 **To the guest account who reviewed last chapter - thanks for the review! I honestly hadn't even heard of the Dork Diaries series, but read up on it a little after your review. I can see some similarities between the two Mackenzies, but there's a few differences too - which will become more apparent as the series goes on. However, some more similarities may arise from the person she used to be. This will make more sense later, I promise.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Eek! Was going to make this mission all one chapter, but my Writing Fiction class starts in 15 minutes and I still need to do some stuff before I run off to class, and I reaaaaaalllyyyy wanted to update today! So my apologies, this is going to be a loooooong story, hope that's okay!**

 **Thanks to YingYang754 & Hampy1 for the reviews. Also Hampy1, I totally get the Great Britain thing. I'm from Australia and we speak UK English (so I apologise to reads if I use 'mum' instead of mom, 'arse' instead of ass, and I put the letter 'u' in a lot more words than my American counterparts)**

 **Also thank you to Kansasgirl87 for following :)**

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Mack was sitting silently in the back seat of Michael's car, her arms across her chest, clearly unimpressed. It seemed no matter how many times she asked about her brother, she didn't get any answers. Michael was now ignoring her, and Mack was guessing he was his hardest not to snap at her. She decided it was best to help out with this thing, and press Franklin for it later.

Mack was sitting quietly, letting Franklin and Michael converse and heard what was going on. It turns out that Michael's son and youngest child, Jimmy, had stolen Michael's yacht. He had been trying to pawn it, but the would be buyers instead decided to be thieves and took it anyway. Jimmy was laying low inside the boat waiting for his dad to rescue him.

When Michael was telling Franklin to not have kids, it seemed that Franklin and Mack were having the same thoughts, as Franklin out loud had stated 'Hey man look, if I had kids, I don't think no parenting issues would arise over who had boat privileges and who don't. Shit, motherfuckers be lucky to sit in a bath tub.' earning a loud snort from Mack at his last comment.

Both Franklin and Michael had almost forgotton the girl was there since she stopped asking about her brother. Franklin grinned as he was proud he made someone laugh, and Michael smiled for a brief second, before he remembered what was going on, and was angry again.

They arrived at the Del Perro Freeway, and immediately a large truck with a yacht as cargo was speeding past at the t-intersection.

"Oh! There! There it is! That's my boat!" Michael yelled.

This caused Michael to run the red light and step on the accelerator, frightening Mack, but not seeming to phase Franklin, considering what he replied with. "Your boat's in a fuckin' hurry, man."

"Yeah, well, we'll catch 'em." Michael stated, sounding determined as he manouvered around cars angrily honking at him, as he kept speeding well above the speed limit to keep up with the truck.

Mack was absolutely terrified as she watched Michael speed past all the cars, there was no denying it. But adreneline started flowing through her veins, and the danger started exciting her. When she was a lot longer, sixteen, eighteen, she used to jump into cars filled to the brim who would all go hooning. They were dangerous, but fun times. Relieving that danger was making Mack feel alive. She had been too busy existing lately and not doing enough living. This was living.

The danger that Mack was loving at the moment was nothing compared to the real danger Franklin was about to experience. Whilst he had been spending the last few weeks spending time with Michael to gain his trust and move from home invader to protégé, he still had yet to impress Michael. This was his chance.

Michael and Franklin (well, mostly Michael) came up with a plan to get Franklin onto the yacht to fight the gangsters head on. Franklin was hesitant at first, until Michael dropped the "old way" line. Franklin realised this was a perfect opportunity to impress Michael, and maybe get himself into a job.

These thoughts were the only ones swimming in Franklin's head as he jumped from the hood of Amanda's Sentinel onto the back of the yacht. Luckily the jump was a success, and Franklin was able to start fighting his way through the thieves.

Whilst Michael was screaming about the engine, Mack's eyes widened as she watched Franklin throw one of the guys off of the yacht straight into oncoming traffic. Michael didn't even attempt to avoid hitting the thief, as body matter splattered across the front of the car.

"Oh my fucking god..." Mack muttered, holding a hand over her mouth as she looked on in disgust, looking behind the car as it drove off to see a mangled mess left behind.

"Kid, I'm sorry, but shut up." Michael snapped at Mackenzie, not being in the mood to deal with a young girl's freak out over witnessing a bloody death for the first time in her short life.

"Michael, look ahead! Franklin's in trouble!" Mack screamed, ignoring Michael's wishes as she began witnessing potential danger.

Michael snapped his eyes away from his rear view mirror and back onto the road ahead.

"Hey, this dude's trying to kill me, man! Hey, shoot this motherfucker!" Franklin shouted loudly, as the two began to wrangle each other over the side of the yacht.

"Get away from him." Michael growled.

Mack gave Michael a weird look. What the hell? This guy was trying to kill Franklin! She needed to spook this guy off, and only knew one way how.

Mack reached over from the backseat to the empty passenger side and opened the glove box and grabbed the pistol. She had no idea what she was doing, in fact grabbing the pistol was almost like an instinct to protect her friend. She certainly didn't plan on killing anyone. Maybe if she just set off a few warning shots, it could spook the guys off.

Michael only sent the girl a smug look as she looked at the gun in her hand. She was almost like a deer in headlights as she paused once she steadied herself in the backseat. She liked to thing of herself as wild and spontaneous. But shooting at a human, even with the intention of missing, was past the level of being wild and spontaneous.

Franklin yelling bought Mack back to her senses, all she could recall was something about "being on the wrong boat" but in an instant she began shooting at the crooks. Her aim was really bad because she missed them, or really good because she was planning on missing them.

Unfortunately for her though, one bullet landed in the yacht, and whilst her shooting shocked the thief to begin with, he grabbed Franklin again and seemed to be angrier.

"Careful of my yacht!" Michael snapped at her.

"Fuck off, you won't have a yacht soon if they get away. At least you can easily repair bullet holes." Mack snapped back.

Her response shocked her. Mack wasn't the kind of girl that let people push her around, but it was rare for her to get angry. She only ever really spoke like that to those who she knew well, or on the opposite end, strangers who were attempting to bully her. It was an odd thing for her to snap at someone she knew over one passive remark. It seemed this new found experience was bringing out a different side of her.

Before she could apologise, Michael snatched the gun out of her hand. His attitude changed too. He went from angry to cocky.

"Once upon a time I was the best shooter in the entire state of North Yankton. Let's see how retirement has treated me." Michael cockily said as he grabbed the gun, and although Mack missed it, he did wink with his statement.

Mack remained silent, not wanting to break his concentration. The situation was becoming critical. This guy needed to be shot to save Franklin, and Michael was the only one who could do that. Mack knew there were psychological consequences for what she was about to witness, and what already had occurred. But she had time for a mental breakdown later.

It took Michael a few shots (Mack giggled when a few went straight into the yacht) but he eventually shot the guy Franklin was fighting, the thief then falling off the yacht and breaking Franklin free. Mack didn't even bother to look to see if the guy survived, later on she knew it would be easier to pretend he did.

But now she looked forward to see Franklin searching the boat.

"Okay now go find Jimmy!" Michael yelled to Franklin.

Franklin didn't have to look far, as seconds later a guy around Mack's age appeared. She smirked at how stereotypical he looked for a Gen Y dropkick. Basketball tank, baggy jeans and lame tattoo sleeves down both arms.

 _You can't get much more douche than that_ Mack thought.

The new boy smugly leaned against the mast as he exchanged words with Franklin, which was a poor choice, as moments later the mast swung around and left him dangerously hanging over the freeway.

Mack could only watch in horror as the events were unfolding in front of her. To make matters worse another gang member had approached Franklin, and was wrestling with him over the side of the yacht. There was literally nothing Mack could do. She wasn't driving and she didn't have any guns in her possession. The only thing she could do would be to yell instructions to Michael, but that would most likely just distract him.

Mack's silence seemed to work, as Michael was able to drive under where Jimmy was barely hanging on, and Jimmy dropped into the car. He landed in the backseat where Mack was, and she had only been given a few moments warning he was coming, and had only just managed to scramble to the opposite side of the seat. Unfortunately though, Jimmy had still landed on her wrist.

Mack was yelping in pain, holding back tears as Michael began to scold his son.

"The fuck is wrong with you, kid?" Michael asked his son, venom in his voice.

"Dad?" Jimmy replied, not even taking notice of the girl seated next to him, or his savior who was still on the boat.

"Don't 'Dad' me you little shit. You better hope she's still sea worthy." Michael growled at Jimmy.

Jimmy turned away from his father, not wanting to deal with him right now. He then fixated his eyes on the girl in the back seat with him. She was fairly cute he decided, not as hot as the girls he liked to watch on porn, but alright all the same.

"Sorry for hurting your wrist when I landed. That wasn't as smooth as I thought." Jimmy said to Mack.

It took Mack a while to realise he was talking to her. She had been ignored for most of this ordeal, and when Michael spoke to her before it was only to show how annoyed he was with her. She had almost ignored her own presence herself, so it took a few moments to come back to reality.

Jimmy's statement seemed to infuriate Michael more, and he snapped again.

"What the fuck? You'll apologise to a girl you're trying to impress for being such a fucking lard ass you managed to injure her, but not to me, for losing my pride and joy?" Michael snarled at Jimmy.

"Hey! Get me off this damn thing!" Franklin shouted from the truck.

Mack snapped her eyes away from Michael to look at Franklin. Lots of things were all happening at once it was hard to keep track. Michael was moving fast too, and easily tail gated the truck until the bonnet of the Sentinel was touching, and Franklin jumped onto the bonnet, and managed to climb into the car, even at the speeds it was running.

"All-a-fuckin'-board? Let's stop this ship from sailing." Michael stated.

Mack smiled, she found his lines amusing. Now it would be a bit different. No one's life was in danger, she could have the adrenaline pumping with no more regrets. Maybe she could help too. She was excited.

The engine began to whine louder, something that Mack had been trying to ignore. But now it was obvious to the other occupants, it had to be bought up.

"Ohh, now that doesn't sound good." Jimmy stated.

"Damn, that's the engine, man. We ain't chasing shit in this thing." Franklin agreed.

"Hold it together. My fucking boat!" Michael whined.

"Hey... it's just a thing! At least you've still got a son..." Jimmy stated.

Mack just sat back and stared at Jimmy. To an outsider it may appear that Michael was being cold and materialistic by being more upset about the boat than his kid. But Mack felt a little sorry for him. His idiot son had done this, and now he was okay, it made sense for Michael to be mourning the loss of his boat. Mack felt it was too soon for Jimmy to attempt to be reassuring and comforting, and conveyed this to him through a glare, which was clearly lost on the boy.

"Eh. There's a chop shop back there, dog. You drive us there, we can get the ride fixed." Franklin interrupted.

"My boat!" Michael repeated.

"Hey dude, are you okay?" Mack asked Franklin, leaning over the passenger seat to the side to be able to speak with Franklin properly, as Jimmy and Michael were exchanging words about the boat.

"Yeah, man. Never saw me as much of a hustler, but ain't no nigga know how to do that repo shit like me." Franklin replied.

"I'm glad you're okay." Mack smiled at Franklin.

"What about you? I seen you pull the gun and shoot at that gangbanger. Must have taken some guts since you don't do that shit." Franklin remarked about Mack.

"I…I feel alive. We've had D and Ms before so you know how I feel like for some time I've been existing…but not living. That's the first time in a long time I've felt like I've been living." Mack stated, purposely ignoring the thoughts of those injured (or dead) men.

"Franklin, would you do me a favour and give this kid a ride home after they've fixed this thing? Brandon's sister needs a ride home too, her car is in my driveway. I want to headbutt the road in peace." Michael stated.

Mack pursed her lips and crossed her arms at Michael's statement. _Brandon's sister_. She never felt she was living in her brother's shadow, but felt it condescending when people referred to her as Brandon's sister. It felt like people didn't believe she was worthy enough of being a different entity. But she kept her mouth shut, she didn't want to annoy Michael when he was being like this.

It was when Franklin called the cab that something dawned on Jimmy. One of the reasons why he kept staring at Mack was because she seemed familiar. It had hit him where he knew her.

"You're Ben's ex-girlfriend, aren't you? The fat blonde one with big tits!" Jimmy stated.

"As you can see I'm not blonde." Mack scoffed, trying to change the topic as she pointed to her natural brunette hair.

"Sure you're not talking about yourself there, kid?" Michael scoffed, trying to contain his rage for his offspring, but not say something that would drive them further apart.

"Well, you're not blonde anymore, or fat. Ben is part of my game crew online. I've met you once, we had a meet up at a bar and Ben made sure to bring you. I remember the girls kept laughing behind your back because they said your bra clearly didn't fit properly, and they were saying to your face size doesn't matter if you're cheating by being fat!" Jimmy said loudly.

Mack smirked at the unpleasant memories. She was someone who had struggled with weight her whole life. She was a skinny kid, until people accused her mother of starving her. Then her mother made her too fat, and in the midst of her teen years she got quite thin again. Unfortunately a party lifestyle was also a fattening lifestyle and Mack ballooned in her late teens, and it had taken her nearly two years, but she was a nice size again, and damn proud of it. Painful memories are meant to be painful, but Mack used them to motivate herself. She was proud of who she was today.

"Well Ben is a fuckwit, who surrounds himself with female friends to try and act like an alpha when they've all friendzoned him. They're all ugly, jealous bitches who can't manipulate men properly so they have to have some loser on a leash." Mack snapped, immediately regretting it as she felt that Franklin and Michael would be judging her based on her catty remarks.

Luckily they had gone into conversation themselves and had completely missed the immature conversation the two youngest ones present in the backseat were having.

"…I liked looking at it." Michael finished, and Mack guessed he was talking about the yacht.

"Yeah. I'd come down to the marina, sit on the deck, pour myself a drink, and look at her." Michael reminisced.

"Did you have a name for the yacht?" Mack asked Michael, hoping to join their conversation so she wouldn't have to talk to Jimmy about her ex.

"Sure did. Her name was Jacqueline." Michael stated.

Mack went to ask where he got the name, but Franklin responded first, and Mack didn't care enough to bring the conversation back to the name of the yacht. Mack guessed that naming the yacht after Amanda may have been weird, and it was probably just a nice generic name one gives to an inanimate object.

"Jacqueline, huh? Well, maybe you need to do some other shit to fill your time. Dream other dreams, man." Franklin stated.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Michael responded, looking at the road ahead.


	11. Chapter 11

**So we finally have a mission in this story! Trevor is coming soon, I promise. It's going to be great, I promise.**

* * *

It didn't take the group of four long to get to their destination, as they were fairly close to begin with. Franklin gave Michael directions to the garage and Michael pulled into the entrance.

"So you sure you're good?" Michael asked, getting out of the car as Franklin moved over to the driver's side.

"Yeah, I got this." Franklin replied.

"Alright." Michael said.

"Ooh, I'm going to come up front." Jimmy said, attempting to climb over the seat.

"Get out and walk around." Michael growled.

Mack surpressed a snort at the dialogue between the father and son. After the ordeal they had just been through: Jimmy stealing his father's expensive yacht, getting kidnapped, Franklin jumping on to rescue him and the extensive violence, Michael was telling his kid to walk around the car instead of climbing over the passenger seat? This is the light hearted stuff she needed to hear right now.

Jimmy ignored his father and climbed over anyway, making Mack dislike him even more.

"Look, man. I'm gonna get the ride fixed, man and drop it back off at your house along with this dude." Franklin said to Michael.

"I'll move my car and go home the second Franklin drops us off back to yours." Mack added.

She had almost felt her presence was redundant today, and that she got in the way more than she helped out. Hell, she hadn't really helped out at all. All she had done was shoot a gun at the yacht and waste some bullets. She felt she should have just left when Tracey and Amanda started arguing and not have gotten caught up in the whole ordeal in the first place.

The taxi arrived and Michael hailed it over, turning back to the car to say goodbye.

"Alright. Listen, thanks for today. Appreciate it. You stop back at the house, we'll talk," Michael said to Franklin, but then turned to Mack "Sorry if I was a bit of a dick to you. Thanks for helping out. Hopefully those bullets you put in the yacht depreciate the selling price for those bastards."

"As an accounting student I can assure you it will. As an observer of crime I can also predict they'll try and pass it off as new, try to sell it to the wrong person and end up with some bullets in their stomachs." Mack predicted, beaming from the compliment, trying to cheer up Michael.

"Yeah, maybe." Michael replied gloomily, making it clear that Mack's efforts at cheering him up were wasted.

Michael then turned away and jumped into the cab. Taking no time to spare, the cab sped off, and Mack was guessing Michael threw money at the driver to get him home a little faster (and a lot more illegally)

"Come on, man. Let's trick this whip, homie." Jimmy said to Franklin, doing some weird hand gestures with his hand.

"Heya, Jim?" Mack said, trying to grab Jimmy's attention as Franklin approached the car to the garage.

"'Sup?" Jimmy responded.

"Is Eminem your favourite artist?" Mack asked him.

"Sure is! He's the mother fucking rap god. How did you know?" Jimmy replied enthusiastically.

"Just a hunch." Mack shrugged, earning a very hearty chuckle from Franklin as he entered the garage.

While they were waiting for the car to be repaired, Jimmy was trying to impress the mechanics. This suited Mack well, as she got to catch up with Franklin properly.

"So, yeah. Ben was the one before David, we only broke up a couple of months ago. We broke up because he lied about girls he was talking to, and his ex was all over him once she realised he moved on. Petty bitch." Mack hissed, summarising who Ben, the ex Jimmy knew, was.

"Man, you seem to know a lot of hoes." Franklin stated to Mack.

"Yeah... I'm kind of at the point in my life now where I'm moving away from my school friends. That's why I like Tracey, Jimmy's sister. She's a little misguided I'll admit, but she's a sweet girl." Mack said.

"Hey Ben you piece of shit, guess who I have here!" Jimmy shouted in the background on the phone, and Mack groaned.

"Doesn't help the quest to forget the past when you meet people who are connected to it." Mack sighed, as Jimmy came bounding over with the phone.

Franklin watched on amused. Growing up in Strawberry meant he was constantly around people of the same colour, with the same low socio economic status. He never saw upper middle class white people problems.

"Yep, hello Benjamin. It is me, your ex girlfriend." Mack stated, trying to supress a laugh.

Franklin couldn't hear what this "Ben" person was saying, so he had to try and guess based on Mack's answers.

"Yeah I'm quite well thanks, how are you?" Mack responded on the phone.

"That sounds like a pretty boring afternoon. Have anything else interesting on the weekend happening?" Mack asked Ben.

Jimmy, who was clearly unsatisfied with how platonic the conversation was going, began to whine as he snatched back the phone.

"Noooo! You need to tell him how we met. That's the funny part, that I'm hanging with his ex." Jimmy whined loudly.

"You are a faggot, Jimmy. My kill count is higher than yours constantly. You can hang with my ex all you want but remember, I've actually fucked her." A voice said from the phone, and Franklin realised that Jimmy must have put it on speaker.

Franklin watched Mack carefully, anticipating her to react negatively and lash out. The girls in his neighbourhood would not allow anyone to talk about them that way.

Instead, Mack began to laugh and smile, as she approached the phone.

"If I could high five you over the phone, I would right now. Hey you should re-add me on LifeInvader, we should have a shot at being friends, like we promised to when we broke up." Mack said to Ben.

"Sure thing amigo. I'm out, I gotta go to work. Catchya on the flip side." Ben said, hanging up the phone.

Franklin smiled at Mack. She was a white girl from a rich family, but he felt that she went alright. He enjoyed hanging out with her.

"Alright, all done. She's good to go." Hao stated, approaching the group sitting outside the garage.

They all hopped up and jumped back into the car. Mack was in the backseat again, while Franklin drove. Mack offered to drive considering Frankin had such an exhausting day, but Franklin said he was fine.

"I like drivin', but thanks." Franklin explained.

On the way back to the De Santa house Jimmy made small talk with Franklin. He completely ignored Mack's presence, she guessed that he was pissed off she didn't follow along with whatever point he was trying to prove with Ben.

She was shocked when Franklin pulled up, and he finally turned to her and said "I'll add you both on LifeInvader, we should hang another time."

"Sure." Mack shrugged, letting Jimmy say bye to Franklin as he jumped out of the car and headed inside the house.

"You coming in?" Franklin asked Mack.

"Nah, I don't really see a point. Tracey probably left the house, and I don't really need to say bye to Michael and Amanda." Mack shrugged.

"Alright. Nice seein' you homie. Catchya round." Franklin said to Mack.

"Yeah, you too. Have a good one." Mack smiled, as she exited Amanda's car and went over to her Dinka Blista which was parked next to where Franklin parked the Sentinel.

She unlocked the car and sat in it for a few seconds. She decided to think about the light hearted stuff today rather than the heavy violence, and smile. This was the best way to not let the ordeal affect her.

"Wow, I'm exhausted." Mack laughed, as she exited the dancefloor and sat on the wall.

David joined her soon after, laughing too.

The duo had met up on a Sunday night, as it was the best time for them both. David hadn't had time to see his family for a while, so he asked Mack if he could see her Sunday night.

Mack agreed, thinking the daytime would be perfect to confront Brandon on why Michael and Franklin think he's a criminal mastermind. However Brandon was avoiding her, and she wasn't sure whether someone had tipped him off or not and informed him that Mack was on the warpath.

Maybe it was Michael, she decided.

Her texts went avoided, so she ended up going around to his house. She didn't bother calling, and made the drive to the airport area from Rockford Hills to surprise him. But Brandon wasn't home, that's what Melody, his wife told Mack at the door. Mack decided to not read into it too much and assumed Melody was telling the truth.

Even though it would now be longer until she found out just what Michael and Franklin were talking about the previous day, implying her brother was a criminal, that was now far from her mind. Her and David were out having a dance and a drink, enjoying themselves.

"Uh oh, I'm a bit too tipsy for someone who has work tomorrow!" Mack giggled, grabbing David's arm and resting her head on his shoulder.

David grinned at the attention he was receiving from Mackenzie. He was enjoying the light touches from her.

"I have an RDO tomorrow. I'm not tipsy enough." David teased, chugging his beer.

"I think I better head off. It's been fun, but by the time I get a cab and I get back to Rockford Hills from here, wow it'll be late." Mack stated.

"You could..." David began to say, but cut himself off as his cheeks brightened and he became to feel nervous and embarrassed at what he was about to propose.

"What?" Mack asked, cocking her head.

David debated whether to ask or not. Deciding she would probably bug him about telling her what he was about to say, he would spit it out. He figured saying it now would make it less of a deal than letting her bug him and him finally saying it.

"Well, I... live kind of close by. You can crash at mine, I mean I can sleep on the couch and you can take the bed... or you can have the couch if you'd prefer. It's up to you, just throwing the offer out there." David said, trying his best to hide his cringe as he successfully told Mack of his proposition without stammering.

Mack blinked for a second as she took in what he was saying. It took her a while to decide how to respond. Mack absolutely hated waking up hungover anywhere else than her bed. She absolutely hated commuting home hungover and avoided it where she could. But she really liked David, and wanted to spend as much time as possible with him.

"Sure. I guess we can arrange sleeping arrangements when we get to yours." Mack decided.

"O-ok, sweet! Well, let's head outside and get a taxi." David stated, grabbing Mack's hand and leading her outside.

David was able to get a cab easy enough, and was able to direct the cab driver to his home. The ride took about ten minutes including the lights, and then David and Mack were inside his apartment.

Mack looked around and nodded in satisfaction. His apartment was pretty bare, just the essentials such as a couch and a tv. There were nothing on the walls, and nothing but dvds and books on the bookshelf. It was however, very neat and tidy - unlike Mack's house which her and her housemate Callum would only keep the house tidy at the beginning of semester.

"So uh, did you want a drink?" David asked Mack, growing increasing nervous as it began to hit him that the girl he really liked was standing in his apartment. He felt like a high school kid again.

"Ummm... this is really weird - but do you have any vitamins? They're great for killing any would be hangovers the next day." Mack asked.

"Sure. I'll grab you some, and some painkillers too. If you want to use the bathroom it's that door just behind you." David said to Mack, pointing out the door he was referring to.

Mack thanked him as she ducked quickly into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

She looked at herself in the mirror. She still decided she looked okay, and was grateful that she bought a little bit of makeup with her, so she could use it tomorrow. She wasn't comfortable about being barefaced around David just yet.

After doing her business, washing her hands and fluffing her hair, she decided to go out and see David again.

He was standing in the kitchen with a glass of water, and Mack noticed a glass for herself with a few different pills.

She took no hesitation in taking the water and gulping down the pills.

"For all you know, that could have been cyanide." David joked, as he saw Mack hastily drinking the water and taking the medication.

"Yeah well, luckily it's almond tasting free." Mack shrugged.

David grinned widely at his date. He absolutely loved her sassy, intelligent personality, and she was cute to boot. He was absolutely smitten with Mackenzie, and had already told nearly everyone he knew about the cute, down to earth girl from Rockford Hills.

"So uh….sleeping arrangements?" Mack awkwardly bought up after she had gulped the water down. This was the first she had felt awkward since she stepped into the apartment.

"Well um, what would you like?" David asked as he scratched the back of his neck, feeling just as nervous as the pretty girl in front of him.

"I...I guess we can stay in your bed. I'm not going to put out so don't take this the wrong way. But if you're okay with that, there's no reason why we can't both sleep in the bed." Mack stated, trying her best to not stumble over her words too much.

"This is incredibly lame and I hope this doesn't make me seem like less of a man, but do you...do you maybe want to cuddle to sleep tonight?" David asked Mack, blushing as he anxiously waited for her response while he was putting himself out on a limb.

"Yeah, kay." Mack smiled, taking David's hand as he led them both into his bedroom.


	12. Chapter 12

**This chapter is a little dry, sorry. But it was needed as it establishes a few things in the story.**

* * *

"You sure you're okay to go to work today? I might be able to make something up to get you out of it, if you want?" David asked Mack, frowning as they stood together outside the door to his apartment.

"Yeah, I'm fine. A small hangover never killed anyone." Mack smiled.

"Okay. Well, for the millionth time, you look good in my clothes." David stated, eyeing the girl up and down.

As Mack hadn't bought a spare change of clothes, David had lent her a spare business shirt. She kept the same skirt she was wearing from the previous night, but changed the low cut top to a more conservative look, making her look a little more presentable for work.

"I'd make the joke that a woman wearing a man's clothing is like a flag on a conquered fortress, but you didn't conquer this one last night." Mack teased, smiling brightly at the man before her.

"Yes, but what happened last night was a lot better." David replied.

"Urgh, lame. Anyway I better get going, especially considering I want to get coffee before work. But we'll talk." Mack said.

David swiftly gave her a kiss and a hug, watching her briefly as she turned and went down the stairs, shutting the door when she was out of sight.

Mack was planning on going to work, she actually was. She could deal with the banter from her co workers about her choice of attire, and a coffee, greasy breakfast and some painkillers would help her sore head. But her plans changed when she saw a call on her phone from someone she had been dying to talk to.

"So now you call me." Mack bitterly chuckled, answering the phone call from her brother as she began walking down the street.

"Hey, what are you doing today?" Brandon asked her.

"Aside from being hungover, I have work. Why?" Mack replied.

"Well, I have the morning off, so I was hoping we could do breakfast in Vespucci Beach. We can clear the air." Brandon proposed, ignoring the fact that Mack was meant to be working that day.

She sighed. She was a hard worker and hated calling in sick, even when she genuinely was ill. But this curiosity was killing her, and she needed to know. She wouldn't be productive at work with this hanging over her head.

"Okay. I'm nearby anyway but don't have my car so I'll have to get the bus. I could be there in abour thirty." Mack informed Brandon.

"Well that's a story I'd like to hear too. I'll be seeing you then." Brandon stated, swiftly hanging up the phone, leaving Mack to find her bearings as she tried to work out a public transport route to Vespucci Beach.

"Hello." Mack said as she spotted her brother in a polo shirt and shorts, sunglasses on top of his head as he was reading the paper casually.

Mack kept her oversized sunglasses on firmly as she sat down, her hangover preventing her from being comfortable with the sunlight.

"Sit. What do you want?" Brandon asked her politely.

"To know why the hell everyone thinks you're a criminal." Mack growled.

"I'll explain that in a second. What do you want to eat, I mean." Brandon explained.

"Full english breakfast, with hashbrowns. A coffee with a double shot." Mack groaned, her mouth salivating as she imagined consuming a hangover friendly meal.

Brandon smirked as he called over a waiter and ordered his light meal and exactly what Mackenzie had stated. He then took a good look at her attire and her current state, and smirked wider.

"So, who's bed were you in last night? Is this poor guy never going to see the shirt you're borrowing again?" Brandon asked his younger sister.

"Yes he will," she snapped "considering he's my boyfriend!"

"I didn't know you had a boyfriend." Brandon stated, matter-of-factly.

"Yep, he's that cop I've been seeing. We made it official last night. Boyfriend and girlfriend." Mack grinned widely.

"Maybe we shouldn't be having the conversation we're about to have, then." Brandon grumbled.

"Why not? Clearly I'm not a prude. You used to take me to Los Santos' most high end clubs to shovel powder up my nose. Saturday afternoon I jumped into Michael's car with Franklin and we chased after some yacht thieves and I shot at them!" Mack stated, in an excited manner.

"You what?! Michael said you were going to be confronting me, but he didn't say anything about yacht chasing. I thought you were just hanging around with his daughter?" Brandon asked.

"Yeah, but I'm friends with Franklin. We were meant to be going to a bar but shit just happened. But it was fun...more fun than it should have been. I'm keeping that shit separate from David." Mack explained to her older brother.

He looked at her for a few moments. He smiled, but then began to frown before letting out a sigh.

"Okay, baby steps then. The gist of it all is that I'm a connections person. I work with mostly underground criminals in this city and source them the right people for the right jobs. Sometimes it takes a little bit of influencing, but I get the job done. I don't do any of the criminal work myself." Brandon explained.

Mack let Brandon's words sink in, before she let out a hearty chuckle. She couldn't believe that was it. As Brandon had been avoiding her she was bracing herself to imagine him being a hardened criminal, but he was connections guy? That was nothing.

"So that's it?" Mack asked, to confirm.

"That's it. For me, anyway. The connections can go onto doing fucked up stuff, but I don't get really involved in that stuff." Brandon explained, smiling at his sister's light reaction to this information.

"So how do you know Franklin and Michael, anyway?" Mack asked Brandon.

"I don't really know the black kid, but the De Santa family is interesting. I met them at the golf club, they're actually in witness protection. Michael is a retired bank robber who did a deal with the Feds to leave that lifestyle. But the mastermind of his old crimes is a mutual friend of mine who I do connections for." Brandon explained.

Mack rolled her eyes. The stupid golf club. Her father was heavily involved in the club when he was alive as he was very talented at the sport. Brandon attempted to follow in his father's footsteps and failed miserably. Mack seemed to inherit her father's talent at golf, but the conservative wealthy people at the golf club had a strict policy of no women on the course, so she never got to play.

"So let me get this straight. You met Michael playing golf, and you have a mutual friend. What's that got to do with the criminal underworld of Los Santos?" Mack asked, now finding it difficult to wrap her head around the small facts.

"Oh, not a lot really. He's retired, hasn't done a thing since 2004. But he used to be heavily involved with a person named Lester. Lester is still involved in petty crimes, mostly white collar involved. Lester is one of my friends, who I gain connections for." Brandon explained.

"Right. So Michael's ex criminal mastermind is a friend of yours. How does that work out anyway? Isn't the whole point of witness protection about being secretive about one's past and true identity?" Mack snorted.

A waiter came over to bring the food, and Mack rolled her eyes. She was starving, but she always felt that waiters always came at the wrong times. She had lost many of good conversations over the years as waiters came over and interrupted, only to have the subject changed once the waiter left. She wasn't letting that happen today.

The second the waiter left, Mack began her interrogation before Brandon could change the subject. Even neglecting her greasy breakfast to do so.

"So?" Mack asked.

"That's the thing, my dear Mackenzie. I'm the connections person. I can know the person in the witness protection, and the person who the witness protection is for. I know a lot of people in this town, you know that. I can hang with pretentious wannabes in the golf club, and can roll with criminals. It's not that weird." Brandon stated.

Mack nodded her head. It made sense for Brandon to know people from different walks of life. She had seen it. Hell, she had experienced it herself. Mackenzie wasn't as well-known as Brandon, but thanks to the internet she knew a lot of different people around the city. It wasn't uncommon for her to speak to someone and realise they already had lots of mutual friends. Unlike Brandon though, not all of those people loved her. She had a small amount of charisma, but nothing compared to her brother. She could definitely see how Brandon could easily know the mastermind, and Michael.

"Okay, I get it. It's easy for you to know them both. But that doesn't answer the witness protection question I had." Mack stated.

"Oh, that one's easy. You've seen how fucked up his family is. They're the worst at keeping secrets. Michael was the first one to spill when he was drunk, this was a while ago. Amanda then confirmed the whole thing one day when she was crying on my shoulder." Brandon smirked.

Mack nodded her head, satisfied with the answers she received. Now she was fine to dig into her greasy breakfast, ready to face her hangover.

* * *

"So…I've been thinking." Brandon stated.

"What much is there to think about when your dog is pooping like crazy?" Mack asked, arching an eyebrow as Brandon made that statement as he was discussing his dog's bowel movements.

"No, about you. Look, for a long time, I've wanted to introduce you to this underworld game. Its easy money, and we're after intelligent people. I've always been too scared to, you know. I've always felt like I've led you astray. You were always the nice, innocent girl growing up." Brandon explained.

"Yet you still introduced me to the secret lives of the rich and the famous." Mack stated.

"That was baby steps. There's a difference between snorting a few cheeky lines on a Saturday night, and getting involved in serious crimes. I need to ensure you're okay with this." Brandon stated.

"I'm not sure. Before last weekend I don't think I would have been. But after going on that yacht mission, I hadn't felt that alive in such a long time. As you said, baby steps. If I slowly got introduced, I think I could do this." Mack said.

"Alright. I'll tell you what. I'll set up a meeting with Lester and we can discuss everything and see how we go from there. Okay?" Brandon asked his younger sister.

"Okay." Mack smiled.


	13. Chapter 13

**Just want to say a big, BIG thank you to the guest who posted under the name Trev. I was having a really awful day that day, and your review cheered me up so much. I tried to get this out as fasf as I could for you.**

 **Also a big thanks to RedRose85 for always reviewing. You are my rock.**

 **Sorry this part is being split into two, I just lost myself in writing and realised it's better to write in two parts**

* * *

Michael De Santa was a lonely man. He had all the luxuries that show someone of his race and socioeconomic status have to indicate that someone has "made it" in life. But it was all just a facade. A daughter that only showed affection when she was presented with a continuous stream of material items. A son who hated him no matter what material items he was presented. Then there was Amanda.

Perhaps Michael had married too young, he wasn't sure. Their relationship was rocky from the start. Michael wasn't in the right place when he met Amanda. He was still pining over his high school sweetheart, who left their small town (and Michael) to go to college to pursue writing. Michael tried many self destructive habits in that time, which led him to the strip joint where he met his future darling wife.

They made great money together. Michael would commit high paying crimes with his group and Amanda did more than dancing for the right price. It gave Michael some meaning in his life, he was able to forget all about Jacqueline, his high school sweetheard.

She was definitely completely forgotten about when Amanda showed Michael the pregnancy test, saying she was definitely on the pill but it must have failed.

Michael's sex addiction was absent for most of his life. He was smitten with Jacqueline and never laid eyes on another female. Even when he was with Amanda, he even was accepting of Amanda's entrepreneurial adventures of escorting, and remained faithful throughout it all.

It only fell apart as they grew older, and Amanda declined every advance of being intimate. The rejection played with his psychological health, so he turned to have his needs met elsewhere. It wasn't about getting his rocks off to begin with. He just wanted the company, and for someone to dote on him again so his mental health improved. But when he found himself strapped to his bed with whipmarks all over him, as a girl who once told him all about how she "really would make it big in Vinewood one day" was covering up the leather undergarments she wore, he knew he needed help.

Where else could he throw money to have his mental health improved? Therapy.

But still, he felt lonely. Things hadn't improved with Amanda, in fact they had deteriorated. So it wasn't uncommon for Michael to go out by himself and find things to do.

He usually found himself at a local cafe, where he could enjoy a legal drug and have a chat to a few people without looking like a creepy old guy. He could chat with the barista about how their day was going. He could speak to a young mother and compliment her children whilst sharing anecdotes about his own children when they were young. He could talk to a dog owner about how his wife won't let him get one, while he pats the dog. Once he saw someone walking their cat, but thought they were too weird, even for him.

It was after one of these coffee outings which would drag him right back into the life of crime he had paid dearly to remove himself from.

He drove his Tailgater into his driveway and noticed a red Blista sitting in the driveway. He thought absolutely nothing of it while he made his way to the door. He knew that Tracey's new friend, Mackenzie, drove a red Blista.

He liked Mackenzie enough. Her brother was a bit of a dick who was cocky and Michael envied his way with people. But Mackenzie was a sweet girl, and a good person for Tracey to spend time with. Tracey's other friends were less than desirable people, so Michael supported her new friendship with Mackenzie, even though she had connections to the Los Santos crime game.

His smile changed to a frown when he saw the two tennis rackets sitting on the ground outside. He realised Kyle, Amanda's tennis coach, sometimes drove a red Blista. That guy always drove different cars, all of them quite girly.

Michael's heart sank, as he tried his hardest to surpress the rage his heart was pumping through him. Maybe, hopefully, he would find an innocent explanation.

"Amanda?" Michael asked, stepping into the house.

He heard nothing but faint music coming from upstairs, which meant that Tracey was home. It meant nothing about Amanda's current location. He ran upstairs, finding it hard to contain his rage, and it all burst when Amanda stepped out of the bedroom in a robe, begging him not to enter.

It happened. Michael snapped. The next two minutes were a blur. Michael storming in, Kyle jumping the balcony, Michael running downstairs, Franklin approaching the property at this time, Amanda's weak attempts at convincing Franklin to restrain Michael, and suddenly Michael jumping into the contractor's utility truck to go aprehend Kyle.

He wasn't just angry that he caught his wife's dishonesty. He was angry the lie he had created for himself and his "perfect" life was no longer viable and there was no denying it anymore. His life was in shambles.

* * *

Mackenzie felt odd as she walked through Rockford Hills with black ankle boots in one hand, a brown paper bag which was very obviously holding wine in another. She was dressed for success in a black dress that went up to her neck and fell to her knees, with a blue blazer accompanying her dress. But the wine in her hand obviously killed any class she had, well, according to the residents of Rockford Hills.

Mack was meeting with Tracey so they could go to a bar together. Tracey's mother, Amanda, was going to drive to Mack's house and pick her up, and then drive both Tracey and Mack to the bar. Tracey had called Mack earlier to tell her that Amanda couldn't take them to the bar anymore as she had a tennis coaching session. So Tracey said if she wanted to come around for pre drinks, they could wait for Michael to come home to drive them.

Mack picked up a bottle of white wine at a liquor store which was on the way of her walk, which went noticed by the snobby residents who glared. One old woman even muttered things under her breath, so Mack mustered up the best hick accent she could.

"Yep. The GFC has made this part o' town cheap. So folks like me are movin' on in!" Mack giggled, knowing this statement would not only hurt the rich elderly woman's pride, and make her believe that it isn't a rich part of town anymore (which was a lie) but now this snob would not be able to sleep at night, petrified of the hicks taking over.

Twenty minutes later she arrived at the De Santa manor. Mack thanked herself as she entered through the pedestrian entrance, as seconds later she saw a red car charge through the gates of the driveway.

She looked twice as the car was identical to hers, but confirmed the number plates were different. The car was also being driven by a naked man.

Seconds later, she saw Michael charge behind in a white truck, with whom she thought might be Franklin in the passenger seat but she wasn't quite sure.

She shrugged, and walked up to the house, figuring she would get an explanation soon.

The door was wide open, so she walked straight in.

"Hello?" Mack asked awkwardly, unsure of who was home in the big house, and what was going on.

"Mack?" Mackenzie heard from the stairs, so she awkwardly trotted in and climbed the stairs.

She was relieved to see Tracey at the top, who quickly ushered Mack into her room. Mack took a seat on the bed, and was pondering whether to ask what happened or not. Luckily for her, Tracey spoke up.

"So I think mom slept with her tennis coach, and dad is going crazy. I heard noises from the bedroom, so I turned my music up really high. Next thing I know there is a huge crash. I look outside and see the tennis coach naked, jump into his car. Dad followed him in our gardener's truck, with that black kid he's been hanging around with." Tracey explained.

"Is it kind of…ironic that she's not doing it with the gardener, and it's the gardener's car that's being used to apprehend the tennis coach?" Mack asked, unsure of how to respond to Tracey's explanations.

"I don't know. You know what, I don't care. They're both as fucked up as each other, my parents I mean. Let's just drink to forget about this, I might be able to get a guy to give us a ride." Tracey explained, handing a wine glass to Mack she had ready.

* * *

"W...what's that?" Mack asked, a slight slurr in his voice as she pushed her head up.

Tracey and Mack had moved to the lounge room after they heard Amanda storm out not too long ago. Feeling it was safe as they were home alone, they ventured out of Tracey's room.

"I don't know." Tracey responded, taking a large gulp of her drink as her eyes were glued on the Fame or Shame repeat she had on the big television screen.

Mack didn't bother saying anything, picking up her wine glass as she headed outside.

She was shocked at what she saw in front of her. Franklin and Michael had come back, but in front of them was a large black car, with many men who had drawn guns in front of them. Now Mack was involved too.

"Kid, go back inside." Michael hissed, annoyed that the innocent kid had just dragged herself into this mess.

"Now, that's not a way to talk to a lady. I won't harm her, honestly. I can't say the same for you." The leader of the men hissed. He was the eldest, and best dressed. He also was the only one without a gun.

"Well uh, look, we have wine inside. We can talk over a glass or five. What do you guys say?" Mack asked nervously, her tipsy state giving her the courage to speak and try to make amends.

"You, license." The man said, clicking his fingers and pointing to himself. He wasn't willing to hurt the girl, but he wasn't in the mood to hear her drunken babbling.

Mack silently dug through her bag which was still around her shoulder, and grabbed her license. She was a lot heavier in her license photo, and she hoped this thug wouldn't think she was trying to hand over a fake ID.

Luckily for her he didn't even look at her photo, and was more concerned about her name and address.

"How's your brother?" The thug asked.

Michael groaned at this revelation. Of course Martin Madrazo knew Brandon Lancaster. Michael attempted to say something to perhaps save his life, maybe do some name dropping about how him and Brandon are best buddies, but Martin's next statement made Michael glue his mouth shut.

"I never liked that kid. He was loud, cocky and a trouble maker. You on the other hand, I always liked. You were a little princess, in a good way." Martin announced.

Michael then snapped his neck towards Mack. He couldn't believe this girl knew him as well. Brandon was believable, but her? Maybe her coming outside wasn't so bad after all.

Mack cocked her head to the side. She was confused, she had no idea where she knew this man from. His words indicated he hadn't seen her since she was a kid, especially as he didn't recognise her until he saw her license.

"Ah... your mother's death was very sad. I was at her funeral. I moved from that house at that time and gave it to my two sons. I had moved up in the world, and living opposite your house ended up too sad." Martin explained.

It took a few seconds to hit Mack, but then she realised who this man was. In her childhood she remembered her mother was very close to the family who lived across the road. Her father tried to keep his two children separate as they were a well known crime family. But her mother still was close to them.

As she got older she started hearing more stories about it all. Her mother was lightly involved, usually only playing a role by gaining intel by acting.

The family patriarch moved after Mack's mother died, but his two sons stayed. Mack never really spoke to them, sometimes she would smile and wave. All she knew was that they had been to jail, they had cameras outside their house and they really didn't like Brandon (as much as he tried to insist it was Mack they didn't like. He couldn't accept there were people out there who actually didn't like him)

"Yeah, I know how you feel." Mack responded, unsure of what to actually say. The only female present was shooting daggers at Mack, and it was making her feel even more uncomfortable.

"Why don't you run along, sweetheart. It's going to get very messy out here. We can catch up another time. Patricia and I would love to have you over for dinner sometime." Martin stated, making the female present let out a loud noise of disapproval.

Mack looked over at the female for a second, but immediately turned to Martin.

"Uh, what happened, anyway?" Mack asked him, but turned to look at Michael and Franklin who had gone silent, attempting to seek an explanation from them as well.

"Michael managed to pull down my dear Natalia's house. Therefore he must pay dearly." Martin said, nodding his head towards his henchmen.

A few thoughts started racing through Mack's mind. She knew he didn't have a daughter, and it finally hit her this was his mistress. It now made sense why she was so protective of this guy, she was afraid she was losing her gravy train and would be replaced by Mack. Mack also became fearful of what Martin meant by "pay dearly" as it was very clear that he wasn't discussing monetary terms.

But it was the last thought that made Mack show emotion as she chuckled heartily. She was wondering how on earth Michael managed to pull a house down using just the utility truck he sped off on.

"Wow. That house must not have been built very well. I'm glad your pretty friend wasn't injured." Mack stated, using a bit of flattery as she was terrified of the response after she laughed and criticised the house.

"Yes, it is a shame. But it wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for this fool." Martin responded, pointing to Michael.

Even though the young girl was tipsy, a bright idea popped into her head. This amazing idea could save Michael's life and perhaps Franklin's too, if Martin was planning on harming Franklin too. Mack knew she had to execute her idea very carefully.


	14. Chapter 14

**I am so SO sorry about the lag in updates! I am in my final week of university, and have thousands upon thousands of words due in less than 5 days, for many of assignments. No exams is good, but millions of assignments is bad. I will be updating loads after I'm done in a week :)**

 **A big shoutout (and apology) to Trev for the lovely review again. I'm so sorry I made you refresh for days without an update. Once again thank you to RedRose85 as always too.**

* * *

"That is true, a quality tester should ensure he is commencing work at the correct time. Considering the house fell apart, that would be a very big insurance claim, right? I'm sure the builder and whoever provides you the insurance policy will pay you very handsomely for the fact a tiny utility truck could pull the house down." Mack began to explain.

Martin paused for a second, letting Mack's words sink in. A huge smile then spread across his face.

"The builder was liable for millions, and the house is also insured for millions as I needed to invest money quickly and I threw lots of money into that house. I'm going to be making quite a lot from this. No one can accuse me of destroying the property myself for insurane, as one should not be able to pull a house down with a rope and a car." Martin stated.

Mack smiled brightly. This was going great, better than she hoped. It appeared Martin had bought the house for money laundering purposes, and he was about to get a cash out he didn't originally think he was going to. Surely he would spare Michael's life now.

"You know what, I'm now in a good mood. I'll tell you what, Michael. If you can come up with the cost of the repairs yourself, I can pocket the insurance due to the trauma of what my dear Natalia had to endure. If you do this, no harm will come to you." Martin said, speaking to Michael.

Mack cringed as she looked towards Michael. She was hoping to get him completely off the hook, hoping Madrazo would be so pleased with all the money he had made today from Michael's actions.

Michael however, was still grateful of what Mack had done. A few minutes ago he knew he was moments away from losing his life, and now his life had a price on it. If he could come up with this money, he would be saved. It was better than being dead.

"Say, 2.4 million?" Martin suggested to Michael.

"Of course." Michael instantly replied, gulping down hard.

Mack was shocked. 2.4 million for repairs? That was a bullshit figure and she knew it. Martin was making lots of money from today, but found one more way to make more money by inflating values, and Michael was a desperate man trying to save his life. It was sickening for Mack to watch.

"My good man. Come along Natalia, we'll find you a nice hotel to stay in." Martin said, throwing the bat he had in his hand into the car.

"Aren't you going to hit him a little? I thought I was going to die!" The woman whined, stamping her feet in a tantrum.

"No, Michael has done us a favour today and given us his word. There is no need to harm him, at all." Martin said to her, as they clambered into the car.

"Is this because of fat girl? Why is she so special?! I knew you think of getting new mistress, but why fat girl?" The mistress shrieked at Martin, not knowing that her loud yelling was audible outside the car and over the motor starting up.

"You will not speak like that, woman. That beautiful young woman is a dear family friend of mine. If you are insulting her, you are insulting me. I think you need to stay at the 3-star motor inn until you learn your lesson." Martin yelled back just as loud.

The rest of the conversation was missed by the three people remaining as the car then raced out of the driveway. Mack was the only one who was smirking at Natalia's hotel down grade.

"Fuck. I'm already mortgaged up to my eyeballs." Michael said, sitting on the front step with his head in his hands.

Franklin and Mack shared an uneasy glance. They both had no idea what to do or say, and both wanted to get out of there for a while.

"I guess I'm back in the game. I'll need to give an old friend a call. Fuck!" Michael swore.

"Hey um, Franklin... do you want to maybe give Tracey and I a ride to the bar? I think it's best Michael has some alone time." Mack stated awkwardly, being the first one to speak outside of Michael.

"Yea' sure thing." Franklin replied, and Mack darted back inside the house.

She found Tracey on the couch watching Fame or Shame again, completely unconcerned about the shenanigans happening outside. She did however, pause and raise her head when Mack came back inside.

"Do you still want to go to the bar? Your dad is back but he's in no condition to drive, so Franklin has agreed to drive us. If you're ready to go now..." Mack trailed off.

"Okay. I just quickly need to check my makeup before we go." Tracey declared, getting up from the couch and running into the bathroom.

Mack shook her head as she realised Tracey didn't even ask about her father's welfare, before deciding to head outside.

* * *

Tracey and Mackenzie were out of their comfort zones tonight, but were having the time of their lives. Tracey usually went to nightclubs full of beautiful people attempting to find themselves a honey to take home that night. Mackenzie was used to going to high end bars full of celebrities and rich people, who either splashed their cash around to show they were rich or, a lot of the time, to hide their homosexuality.

A dive bar wasn't where you would usually find the two, but here they were.

Most of the population were males. There were a few females scattered around, but they were nothing compared to the tanned beauty that was Tracey De Santa and the pretty fair skined girl that was Mackenzie Lancaster.

Both of them were lapping up the attention. Tracey who was used to this attention from men was rolling in it, accepting many compliments and sitting on many laps. Mack on the other hand wasn't used to this attention. She wasn't fat or ugly, but she wasn't the Los Santos definition of good looking. At the high end bars there were plenty of models. She was always the friendly funny girl. Every one loved having Brandon's younger sister around because she was a breath of fresh air, a touch of innocence in a fucked up town. But she wasn't a sex symbol. Mack preferred it that way as it made life easier.

Tonight she was enjoying it. She wasn't all over men or sitting on laps, but she was acting friendly and accepting the compliments. She felt a little guilty as she wouldn't be happy if David acted this way with a group of girls. But she wasn't planning on doing anything with them, so it was a moral grey area she felt she was okay with.

"Hey kiddo, how's Brandon going?" One of the men said to Mack, popping himself next to her.

Mack turned around to see a man wearing a hat backwards, with a very stocky build. Los Santos douchebag roid kind of person, but under the douchebaggery she saw a face she recognised.

"Aaron! Hey! How are you going?" Mack smiled brightly, debating whether to give him a hug to greet him but deciding against it.

Aaron was Brandon's best friend growing up. Before Brandon became the most popular guy in town. Brandon and Aaron were the two coolest guys in the Rockford Hills area. They weren't weak skinny trust funds kids, which drove the girls wild. As they grew up they grew apart. Brandon evolved to keep up with fashions to stay in the "in crowd" whereas Aaron stayed a beefcake jerk thinking it would work forever. It didn't.

They ran into each other a couple of years ago when Mack forced Brandon to talk to him. They tried to hang out and be friends again but they were too different. They only had each other on LifeInvader now. As far as Mack knew they were frenemies. Aaron thought Brandon was a "sell out fag" and Brandon thought Aaron was a loser.

Aaron did however think Mack was a nice girl. He was one of the few people in the area who liked Mack and not Brandon as well. Once he drunkenly told Mack he would beat up anyone for her "because Brandon the girl would never do that for his sister"

"Hey. Yeah, he's good. How are you going?" Mack smiled brightly.

Before Aaron could respond, a drunk guy ran over to where Mack was, and flashed his genitals to her.

Mack blinked, unsure of what was going on. She had consumed a few drinks so her thinking was a little impaired, but she was sober enough to be completely confused at this change of events.

"Oi! Buddy, that is not okay!" Aaron called out, getting out of his seat.

"Whatever." The flasher laughed.

Aaron only let out a loud growl as he jumped over the table, knocking it over as he landed a few punches onto the flasher.

The flasher was strong himself as after the initial shock he was able to get a few in as a scuffle broke out.

Mack jumped back to the safety of where Tracey was sitting, she was with an older gentleman.

A bouncer made his way over and ejected the two out of the bar at the same time, banning them both for three months. He muttered they were lucky they were some of the only regular patrons because they should have five lifetime bans each by now. Once it quietened down Mack turned to the two she was sitting with to continue conversation.

"Look what you've done!" The older gentleman remarked loudly, and Mack stayed quiet. She didn't believe he was talking about her. He continued on.

"You're a whore! You're nothing but a trouble making whore. You need to learn to keep your mouth shut." The man sneered at Mack.

Mack eyed Tracey waiting for her to defend her, but Tracey guiltily looked away, leaving Mack to her own devices.

"He uh, he flashed me. Did you see that? Aaron only punched him because this random guy put his dick in my face." Mack spluttered, attempting to defend herself to this unreasonable jerk.

"You're a trouble maker! Slut." The man hissed at Mack, almost baring his teeth to show his disproval of the girl.

Mack looked down, feeling the brunt of what the man was hissing at her. She knew he was being unjust and it wasn't true what he was saying, but today it was affecting her. She didn't want to hear his insults, so she muttered to Tracey she was going outside to organise a ride home, just as the older man was grooming Tracey, saying she was a "nice girl" compared to the "whore"

Mack sighed, sucking it up as she walked out of earshot, found Franklin's number in her contacts on her Drone phone and began to call him.


	15. Chapter 15

**A lot of people on here seem to be Michael fans, so this chapter should make you happy. Let me know what you think.**

* * *

When the call connected Mack instantly began talking before Franklin could even say a greeting upon answering.

"Franklin, can you please come and pick me up? I don't want to be here anymore." Mack stated, trying to not come across as angry but at the same time she was swallowing a large lump in her throat.

That comment said by that asshole had hit her hard. More than it should have. Mack knew this guy was being unreasonable and a complete ass. Some guy had (by definition) sexually harrassed her, and a family friend acted out in rage. This hardly made Mack a whore, she didn't instigate anything. But she had built up her confidence tonight but not being the funny but unattractive girl as she usually was when out in Los Santos, and that incident had bought Mack back down to earth. She wanted to go home and sulk in bed about her first world problem.

"Hi, it's Michael. Franklin left his phone here, I'm answering it in case he wants it back." Michael stated to Mack.

"Oh, okay. Um, can you get him to call me? Actually, never mind. I'm going to call a cab." Mack muttered.

She was about to give a weak goodbye and hang up, but Michael spoke up, preventing her from doing so.

"Do you need a ride? Is everything okay?" Michael asked, worrying a little about his daughter, and her nice friend on the phone.

"Don't worry, Tracey is fine. She's uh, talking to a mother figure who's here on a night out," Mack lied when she looked through the window from the outside and saw Tracey with her tongue down the throat of a guy their age "Something happened to me, but I got out of there. It's fine, I'll just get a cab."

"You don't sound too good. Look, I'll text you from my phone so you have my number and just send me the address. I'll come by and pick you up now. You saved my ass today, it's the least I could do." Michael stated.

Mack agreed, and hung up the phone. It was a little chilly outside as it was the tail end of summer, so the nights started to cool down a little, even in sunny Los Santos. She sighed as she ran a hand through her hair and leaned against the wall. It was still better waiting outside alone in the cold than going back in there.

* * *

Michael's tailgater pulled up at the curb, and Mack opened the door nervously.

As Mack was waiting earlier, Tracey came outside with a group of boys. They were all going to a party and invited Mack to come, which she turned down.

Mack told Tracey her dad was coming to pick them up, but promised to lie about her whereabouts. Tracey was grateful, and the boys told Mack to cheer up and that the guy who abused her was a dick.

It cheered her up a little as she waited for Michael, but it all flew back to her the second she opened his car door and spoke up.

"A-at least Tracey is fine, she left with the single mothers, the career ones." Mack stuttered, taking a long pause after stuttering around nonsense as she knew she would burst out crying.

"What the hell happened?" Michael asked loudly, turning the engine off in the car.

"Some guy flashed his dick at me so one of Brandon's friends got into a fight with him to protect me. They both got ejected so one older guy started saying I was a trouble making slut." Mack said, tears coming out by the end.

Mack felt awful. Not only was she feeling sad about the events that unfolded but now she felt bad for dragging Michael into the mix. He had a rougher day than she had, but here he was leaving his house to pick her up, listening to her blubber on about superficial problems. She was terrified of his response and was wishing she called a cab instead of Franklin's phone.

Michael on the other hand felt awful for the girl. She was always a positive person when he had seen her, and was pleasant to be around. She had saved his ass today and he was very grateful for it. Seeing her upset made him feel bad, and he started seething as he felt anger towards the jackass who was making her cry.

"Right. Which guy was it? I'm going in there." Michael asked Mack.

"No, it's fine. He's a drunken loser who definitely is not worth it." Mack responded quickly.

"Nope, you don't get a choice." Michael replied, getting out of the car.

Mack meekly followed, feeling afraid of not following Michael's orders. Mack didn't even have to speak up once they went into the bar as the jerk ousted himself almost instantly.

"Aw, look at that. The dirty slut has daddy issues and has her own sugar daddy." The jerk cooed, laughing as he saw the tears on Mack's face.

Mack rolled her eyes, wiping her tears away quickly. The man was the same age as Michael, so she thought his taunts were pretty weak.

Michael however was infuriated even more. His age was a sore spot, so being called a "sugar daddy" didn't settle well with him. He also was enraged of the words he chose to describe Mackenzie.

Out of nowhere he pulled a gun that was tucked into his belt. It was only a small hand held pistol, but it was enough to evoke fear in the bar as people began to scream.

"Whoa, man. You know I was just joking, I don't think she's anything but a nice girl." The man quickly stated, feat evident in his voice.

"Not such a tough man now are you?" Michael shouted at him.

Mack stood frozen in fear, and she began to slowly back towards the door. She was frightened herself. The guy was a dick but she knew he didn't deserve to die after a few mean words. What was to stop Michael from turning on her one day? If Michael did kill this guy would she be considered an accomplice?

The man didn't back up Michael's claims of "not being a tough guy now" which made Michael growl as his anger started growing again. Fed up with the guy, he hit the guy with his gun, knocking him out.

Mack then left the establishment quickly, jumping into Michael's car as she heard the bar staff on the phone to police. Michael was directly behind her, jumping into the drivers seat and roaring out of the car park.

"Do you mind if I drive us to an alley out of sight for a short while? Police only look for suspects for a short amount of time before giving up if there hasn't been a sighting. They don't have the resources to look long term." Michael asked Mack.

She nodded, not capable of words. Here she was with Michael, running from the police. Although she would be fine if they did get caught, it was still an eery feeling. Her boyfriend was a cop, but she was hanging around with criminals. What would David think if he ever found out? Could this essentially harm his career?

Mack stayed silent as Michael found a dark alley to hide in. He was right, the police were definitely looking for him, as sirens were everywhere. Mack wasn't planning on talking as she felt this situation called for complete silence and complete concentration, but Michael was cheerful and optimistic.

"I don't think that man will ever call you whore again." Michael stated proudly.

"I don't know. You yourself called me a whore when we first met." Mack teased Michael, grinning widely as she did so.

"What are you talking about?" Michael asked.

"Well you did say loudly to Franklin it's good he hired a date when you met me. You thought I was an escort." Mack giggled, hitting Michael's arm.

"Oh, right..." Michael trailed off awkwardly, unsure on how to reply.

"It's cool. I'm over it. I just think it's funny." Mack giggled.

A silence then fell over the two. Mack wasn't sure what Michael was thinking, but she suddenly felt a little awkward. She had never had a conversation with Michael alone and now they had run out of things to talk about she didn't know what to say.

"Um, so. I feel like I don't know much about Michael De Santa. Care to fill in the basics?" Mack asked Michael, not bothering to filter her thoughts as she blurted out what she was thinking.

Michael sent her a crookered smile. He knew he was a narcissistic asshole and enjoyed every moment he was given to talk about himself. Especially when a pretty young girl was holding onto every last word of his.

"We can go to a bar if you want? Not the one we were just at of course. I know a couple around here." Michael responded eagerly.

"You know what? I know a place even better. We can stop to get drinks first." Mack smiled.

* * *

Michael and Mackenzie had ended up up on Vinewood hills in a spot that overlooked the city of Los Santos. They also conveniently were in a spot that overlooked the Vinewood sign and a few meet up places for dark and shady activities.

"There's this spot I used to sometimes go to people watch, it's hilarious. Vinewood is a rubbish spot if you wanna do the dirty in your car because there's cops all the time patrolling and a million other people there for the same thing. But because of this it's hilarious to watch." Mack stated as she was directing Michael to the spot they were now at.

They were now sitting on the bonnet of Michael's tailgater with a few drinks. Michael had purchased some Pisswasser (to which Mack teased him about and told him she expected craft beer considering his social standing) whilst Mack was drinking cheap wine directly from the brown paper bag. There was silence again but it was a more comfortable one from just before. Mack still decided to smash it.

"So what was your label in high school?" Mack asked him curiously.

Michael smiled in a bittersweet way. He was glad this was a question Mack was asking him, as he got to once again bask in past glories and the person he used to be.

"I was a jock, actually. Quarterback, star of the team." Michael boasted proudly.

"I can see that. Did you go on to play at college too?" Mack asked Michael.

His smile fell as he knew he now had to explain the turning point where his life turned to shit.

"No. I uh, injured myself and my game was never the same. I never made it to college let alone to play on the team." Michael mumbled, taking a big swig of his beer.

"That's probably a good thing. There's a lot of money in college football, and a lot of pressure. High school football is fun and games, you get the popularity and the bitches. You picked the right path." Mack confirmed.

Michael smiled, feeling a little better. She was the very first person to ever tell him that. Most people happily pointed out that he was a loser living off old memories. The ones that tried to be nice felt sympathy for him, but here was Mackenzie saying he made the right path in life. He was glad Tracey had made friends with this girl, she was a good influence for the entire De Santa family.

"What person were you in high school?" Michael asked Mack, not even purely out of obligation. He was actually curious.

"I don't know. Early high school I was the fat nerd. Then I lost weight and started taking care of my appearance and I was just kind of a blip on the radar as I wasn't beautiful enough to stand out, but then I wasn't ugly enough to stand out either." Mack shrugged, the wine she was chugging taking effect as she began to ramble on.

"What about now in college?" Michael asked, choosing to divert the conversation from acknowleding Mack's difficult high school career.

"I did become popular for a while, but that fizzled out. I got invited to all of the parties for a while, and student politicians used to beg me to help them win votes. I even got onto the cheerleading team, but got kicked off a few weeks later. Whatever." Mack said bitterly, her turn to now swig from her wine bottle.

"You're too good to be a cheerleader anyway. You're too intelligent for that." Michael said in an attempt to cheer up Mack.

"You're too good for the way your family treats you." Mack blurted out, but even with the alcohol in her system she quickly gasped and covered her mouth.

She knew this was none of her business and had kept her thoughts to herself in the short time she's known the De Santas.

But now she had finally spoken up and she was terrified of Michael's response.


	16. Chapter 16

**As always, huge thank you to RedRose85 and Trev! I'm gonna try to update more just for you guys!**

 **This is the last time I'm going to say it. When I use actions/dialogue from the game it may be changed a little, I've said it a lot so I won't say it anymore.**

* * *

"I uh... sorry. It's none of my business." Mack quickly stated, in an attempt to back track the act of blurting out her thoughts inappropriately.

Michael however was not going to let her do that. After all the shit that had gone down with his family over the last few years he was very interested to see what an outsider had to say. Michael's therapist always placed heavy blame on Michael so it was refreshing to hear someone say something different in entirely.

"No, it's stupid. I guess I was projecting the loss of two parents onto your situation, and I'm sorry." Mack added.

It was truthful to a degree. She didn't like it when Tracey would complain about her two parents as Mack would do anything to belong to a proper family again. All she had was Brandon, and Uncle Steve who she didn't really see much since she quit the business he ran. She tried to not think about it or talk about it too much as there was nothing Mack could do to fix her situation. Her parents were gone and they were never coming back. But it was still frustrating to Mackenzie that Tracey could not see just how lucky she was.

But the main reason behind Mack's statement was that she meant every word she had just said.

"I'd like to agree with you. But not many people tell me that. So if you mean it, you should probably speak up." Michael stated.

Mack sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She felt sorry for Michael. He always seemed to get the wrong end of the stick, and she knew she should probably explain herself to make him feel a little better.

"Well, you heard me. You've done nothing wrong to your family but they treat you so awfully. All you've done is provide but you can't seem to make them happy. Seems pretty unfair to me." Mack shrugged.

In her head she prepared a beautiful way to deliver her explanation, but when she opened her mouth nerves ran through her, as she knew she was talking about things she didn't understand. Michael decided to fill her in on the blanks.

"I haven't been a perfect husband or father. I used to rob banks and get us all into dangerous situations. I managed to get my family out, and here I go again doing it all over again." Michael sarcastically laughed, and Mack winced as she didn't really know how to reply.

"Yeah, but you're only back in due to Amanda's unfaithfulness" Mack pointed out, unsure of how to properly reply.

"I've cheated on Amanda too. Sex addiction, that's why I see a shrink. Two wrongs don't make a right, kid. Let me tell you that. As much as you fuckin' try to do the right thing, you just end up doing the wrong thing over and over." Michael ranted.

Mack shifted uncomfortably where she was sitting. They were both sitting on the Tailgater's bonnet with their respective drinks in their hands. Whilst Mack was still drinking straight from the bottle, Michael had just finished his bottle of Pisswasser and angrily threw it into the distance, the bottle smashing everywhere.

Mack was expecting more anger to come from Michael's mouth after this action, but instead he was instantly calm.

"That felt almost therapeutic. I guess I need to get some money and get back out. I can focus on the family issues later." Michael stated. He wasn't sure whether he had let his anger out by smashing the bottle or was containing it by not elaborating further, but he felt like dropping it all of a sudden.

"Brandon wants me to get involved in this business now. He said there's a few smaller things I can get involved in. I know I shouldn't. I've always been the innocent girl, but over time pieces of the old me have been slipping away. The morbid curiousity inside me wants me to try this stuff." Mack stated, holding her breath as she waited for Michael to berate her decision.

Instead he just opened a new bottle of beer and took a large gulp before he replied to her statement.

"You've already made up your mind. Besides, you're not exactly going from 0 to 60 in three seconds, you already do money laundering and designer drugs. All I can do is advise you to keep your head afloat and don't get too deeply involved like I did. Follow your brother's advice and just stay involved with lighter things." Michael responded, taking more gulps of beer after he finished.

Mack nodded in appreciation. She was glad Michael was on board with her getting involved now that he was back in the game too. She also appreciated that she didn't get the same lecture he tried to give Franklin. She guessed the situations were different. Franklin needed the life of crime to pay his bills and could easily get too dependent on big money from big heists. Mack was getting involved for the thrill, and it was far easier for her to pull herself out if she needed to.

"I'll give Lester a call tomorrow. It's been years since I've spoken to him. He thinks I'm dead, however knowing him and his skills he knows it was all false. I'll mention that your brother wants to introduce you to this so you should come with me." Michael proposed.

"Sounds good. I might call Brandon tomorrow too, just so he can't accuse us of cutting him out of all of this." Mack agreed.

* * *

The two stayed out all night, talking to each other on the bonnet of the car. They finished their drinks and began to sober up in the night as they continued talking. They spoke about many topics, from intelligent ones such as religion and politics and they discussed stupid things such as TV shows and celebrity gossip, well, more like how they hate stupid celebrity gossip. They also both appreciated classic Vinewood.

They both enjoyed the company. That's exactly what it was, company. There was no flirting, no weird business. Just two people hanging out together enjoying each other's company.

When the sun began to rise the two decided to call it a night. They got back in the Tailgater and Michael drove Mack home.

They both agreed to see Lester today, so Michael said he would pick her up to give her a ride, so they could both go together.

Mackenzie bit her nails anxiously as she waited for Michael to arrive. She had no idea what to expect. Even though Brandon had mentioned Lester before (although he had never mentioned the crime thing until recently) Mack had still never met him. She was nervous to start getting involved, but her nerves weren't going to stop her from doing so.

She was glad that her housemate Callum wasn't home as she sat in the lounge room waiting for Michael to turn up. Callum knew that Mack had a boyfriend and she knew he would be judging her for getting into a Tailgater with a much older man.

When Michael did show up, she quickly jumped into the car as she nervously watched to see if any of her neighbours were outside looking. They weren't.

"See that house across the road?" Mack asked, pointing to the house opposite hers.

"Yeah?" Michael asked gruffly.

"That's owned by Martin Madrazo. His kids live there." Mack stated to Michael, who only gave a grunt in response.

The ride was fairly silent the rest of the way. They both didn't know what to expect. Mackenzie was nervous about getting involved with their heists as she felt she was about to cross the point of no return. Michael was nervous as he was about to visit an old friend whom he knew before he was put into witness protection. Neither of them were comfortable, so there was no talking like they did the previous night.

The houses around them began changing as they left the leafy Rockford Hills area as they went closer to downtown. They eventually ended up in El Burro Heights, a lower-middle class suburb. Michael pulled up to the curb and pulled his keys out of the ignition, but neither one of them made an effort to move.

"This is it." Michael stated, and Mack knew he wasn't referring to the fact they were outside Lester's house.

"Yep." Mack calmly stated, feeling the same way as Michael.

"I'm going back in." Michael mused out loud.

"I'm going in for the first time." Mack said.

"Let's do this." Michael said, getting out of the car.

Mack followed his lead, she got out of Michael's nice car and followed him to the entrance. What greeted them was something that most people didn't have.

There was a big security system set up. Brandon had a camera facing outside his house too, but it was absolutely nothing compared to what greeted them at Lester's house. Mack turned to Michael and gave him a puzzled look but Michael knew what to do.

"Fuck you, Lester. You gonna let us in or what?" Michael growled into the camera.

"Gimme a minute." They both heard from inside. Mack didn't even bother looking at Michael's reaction as she studied the outside.

At first she thought it was strange that a criminal mastermind would live in such a modest suburb, but now she thought it was a brilliant idea. He could set up a million security systems for his safety and no one would bat an eyelid because they would assume it was due to the fact he lives in a bad neighbourhood. It was a very smart idea.

The door buzzed and they both walked into the house. Michael made a beeline for Lester but Mack looked around in astonishment. The security system was very sophisticated, it was a lot more than just a simple CCTV system that Mack was expecting.

She eventually followed Michael and they both had landed in front of a man who was sitting at a computer. Mack didn't know what she was expecting Lester to be like, but what he was wasn't what she was expecting. He was fairly short and quite chubby, with a cane situated next to his computer – but he was currently sitting in a wheelchair.

"Hello." Mackenzie nervously greeted him.

"Ah yes, Brandon told me you were getting into the business. Fairly normal young adult, very active on LifeInvader. Your trolling is superb, by the way. Using dating sites and weeding out the perverts and adulterers and messing with them is amusing." Lester stated.

Mack's eyes widened. She hadn't told anyone one of her secret pleasures was to jump onto dating websites and annoy the sex pests and cheaters on those sites. Considering she used a fake name and pictures she was surprised Lester knew about it. She knew he was a computer geek from what Brandon told her, but she didn't know he was that good.

"I'm also sure your brother wouldn't be too impressed to know you were with this dead man all night last night. Your cell phones were receiving signals from the same tower until 7.02am today." Lester stated matter-of-factly and Mack groaned as she ran a hand through her hair. Considering they didn't even do anything dodgy last night, Mack didn't want to be lectured or have Brandon be notified.

"As for you, I know all about your situation. You weren't dead like the world believed. Instead of decomposing gently in North Yankton, you're angrily decomposing in Los Santos with a shrink... and a wife who don't love you no more." Lester grinned towards Michael.

Mack stayed silent. She knew exactly what Lester was on about. Michael had dropped hints here and there about his past life, but opened up completely to her last night. He mentioned that he dug a hole so deep he felt he couldn't get out, but then an opportunity arose for him to get out and help his family too. He worked secretly with a corrupt FIB agent and set up a stunt to capture his crew and faked his own death to be eligible for a dodgy witness protection scheme. Lester was talking about this.

"I know you never mentioned my name. I know I'm not on any lists anywhere. I know you never betrayed me." Lester stated to Michael.

"Yeah, yeah. Well. When you put it like that..." Michael trailed off in response to the last few statements Lester had made. He knew that Lester was right, but Michael preferred to just ignore reality and live pretending everything was fine. It was easier that way.

Mack still stayed silent, she felt shy. Here were two friends catching up for the first time in years after many crimes and a faked death. She felt her presence was imposing and she had nothing to really had to the conversation.

"Hey, shut up for a minute. I'm getting an EyeFind alert. That little college boy, sack of shit, phony fuck!" Lester ranted on.

Mack peered over at the monitor and saw an EyeFind search up about Jay Norris, the creater of LifeInvader.

"I hate that guy! He's such a dick. He advertises hes against mandatory data retention the government and Merryweather are trying to impose, but then sells the LifeInvader information to them anyway and tries to be sneaky about it. Stupid fuck." Mack ranted, not being able to control herself.

"You should see his emails, I've read them. He's a lying cheat." Lester agreed, joining in on Mack's ranting.

"I heard him say that he saved America." Michael piped up, making Lester groan and Mack roll her eyes.

"What? By outsourcing all of the jobs? By selling us little bits of plastic restricted-access shit? Well now its payback time, you lying turd." Lester ranted.

Michael and Mack glanced at each other. They knew that the task that Lester wanted them to do to get in his good books was going to involve Jay Norris, and it was going to be completed very soon.


	17. Chapter 17

Hey guys I'm so sorry I've been slack with updates lately. I started working this other story I started years ago and it got really distracting.

I will admit it was nice coming back to some really nice comments from you amazing people! Huge shout out to RedRose85, Trev and jg00 - you guys have no idea how much your reviews brighten my day. Thank you!

* * *

"You are about to get that white collar gig that you always dreamed of, Mikey. Here, take this err, fashionably retro, 'weird-for-a-forty-five-year-old-man-but-I-cannot-let-go-of-the-1980's bag, and dress yourself up like a billionaire math genius with low level Asperger's. You better be ready for the minor glitch of your repulsive pseudo-messianic life." Lester explained to Michael, throwing him a backpack that he just so conveniently had lying around.

Lester then turned to Mack, humming in thought as he thought of how he could use her. This was his chance to gage how well she would go in these situations. He was going to test how well she kept her cool. If she could pass this test, he would take Brandon's advice and let her get involved in their activities.

"Let's see for you, Miss Mackenzie. I know that's not your real name, but I know you don't like your real name." Lester began.

"Whoa, wait. Mackenzie isn't your real name?" Michael piped up as he addressed Mack.

"No. It's my middle name, but I've always gone by Mackenzie. The only people these days who know my real name are people who look it up such as my darling boyfriend and Lester over here, and my family." Mack replied, trying not to hiss as she hoped that Michael would drop it.

Luckily he did, he shrugged as he returned his attention to Lester to receive further instructions.

"When your mother was involved with Madrazo's shenanigans she was the blonde bombshell. She used to flirt her way through things. Sometimes it was to distract, other times it was to get something. I've looked it all up online, illegally, by reading old emails and files. We could always do that with you..." Lester mused.

"Well, I'm brunette so I can't exactly be the blonde bombshell can I?" Mack snapped. Her hair colour was a sore spot. Brandon got their mother's blonde hair whilst Mack inherited their father's golden brunette hair.

"No, you're not ready for that yet. You need a smaller role." Lester thought out loud.

Mack nearly made a comment that she didn't believe she was pretty enough to serve as a flirting decoy. She kept her mouth shut in the end. She knew this wasn't the time nor the company to voice insecurities about her appearance.

"I got it. You can pretend to be the daughter. You need to go with him to buy clothes. Your father got laid off and found a perfect gig at LifeInvader. So you need to help him fit in with the younger generation." Lester stated.

Mack only sent Lester a nod, happy with that role. It sounded easy, it was the perfect start for her. She could easily do that.

"Okay, Lester..." Michael trailed off, after no one else spoke up.

"Get out of here! Call me when you're ready. We are about to put the Darwinism back in social Darwinism, and brother, it is gonna be fun." Lester muttered, asking raising his voice at the start of his sentence.

"You fuckin' kiddin' me? I'm a bank robber, not a web designer." Michael complained.

"So we'll go robbing... soon. I'll find something. Just like the old days." Lester responded.

Michael didn't even bother giving Lester a reply as he walked out of the house. It took Mack a few moments to realise, and she quickly followed him out and jumped into the passenger seat of his tailgater. Michael then started the car, and they were off.

"So um, what do I do when we get to the clothes store?" Mackenzie asked Michael.

"If you have to ask what to do you probably shouldn't be on this mission." Michael grumbled, and Mack sent a meek nod as she looked down.

Michael looked over and sighed, feeling a little guilty at his outburst. She was just a kid doing her first task. It made sense she felt unprepared.

"You're lucky that Lester gave you an easy task. All you literally need to do is to pretend to be my daughter. Pick some stupid clothes for me and pretend to be interested." Michael said to Mack.

"That's easy. It's a test for me, but it also throws cops off the scent of us should they ever investigate. You look like a completely different person, with a fake daughter to match." Mack mused.

They didn't have to drive around much longer, as Michael sped his way to the clothes shop in his tailgater.

He stopped outside the shop but made no effort to get out. Mack was about to get out after she undid her seatbelt but noticed Michael's hesitation so she closed the half opened door and turned to him.

"Are you ready?" Michael asked her.

"Yeah, are you?" Mack asked him, as she had noticed his total hesitation for the entire afternoon.

"Yeah. I know I have to do this. I'm just enjoying the last few moments of my retirement before I jump back in." Michael admitted.

"Let's do this." Mack smiled in an effort to cheer up and motivate Michael, as she offered her fist to bump.

Michael gave a weak smile as he accepted, and they both jumped out of the car and headed into the store.

Mack looked around. The store was fairly empty, which was odd for a Saturday afternoon. Usually Vinewood shopping was in full swing. She appreciated the peace and quiet. If people were around she knew she would be nervous.

Michael approached the clerk at the register and was the one to speak up.

"Ah, excuse me. I got this interview with this tech company. I'm thinking I need something. I don't know... Geeky. Youthful." Michael stated to the clerk.

He wasn't feeling nervous like Mackenzie. He felt ridiculous for being on this mission. This was definitely beneath him. He used to be Michael Townley, the infamous bank robber of the Midwest who could only be bought down in a collusion with an FIB agent that made this agent's career.

Now he was Michael De Santa, a miserable shriveled up old man in a loveless marriage with kids who hate him. He was now in a crappy millennial clothing shop with his daughter's friend, doing a mission that involved web developers. This was not what he had in mind the second he decided to come out of retirement.

"Now every thing is getting outsourced I told daddy here to get with the times and that new technology is the way to go. He needs some clothes for his job interview." Mackenzie nodded.

The clerk looked at them both, and a thin smile appeared on her glossed lips.

"Lost your job and the world's moved on, huh? That's too bad." The clerk stated.

"I didn't lose my job." Michael proudly stated as he glared at the two women in front of him. He felt this task was beneath him to begin with, he didn't want the pity of two younger females as he pretended to be unemployed.

"Of course. Got too old, got outsourced. Same thing happened to my dad. Now you gotta fit in with a different generation. What about... A vest and some cargo shorts?" The clerk stated, taking Michael over to the sections where she was suggesting.

Mack nervously followed Michael as they landed up in clothing racks. The clerk then left the two alone as she walked back to the front counter.

"Well, what do I wear?" Michael grumbled as he asked Mackenzie's advice.

"Um..." Mackenzie trailed off.

She never kept up to date with fashions too much herself. She went shopping fairly regularly for new clothes and always watched what seemed to be in fashion so she had small knowledge, but she was never a high fashionista. But when it came to what was unfashionable and geek chic, she was even more clueless.

She had a part to play and that didn't involve whinging.

Taking the advice of the clerk, she pulled out a pair of tanned cargo shorts and a blue coloured vest. They looked ridiculous - like what a web designer would wear. Someone who went for comfort and practical over fashion.

Michael made a face at the clothes but said nothing as he made his way to the change room.

Mack was then left alone with the clerk. She was happy to awkwardly browse the store, until the clerk started to make awkward conversation.

"So, what do you do with yourself?" The clerk politely asked.

"Oh umm...I study." Mack replied as she felt off guard, not expecting the clerk to make conversation with her.

"That's cool. What do you study?" The clerk asked Mack.

Mack was about to respond and tell the clerk about how she studying business at Los Santos University but she stopped herself. She was assuming a new identity for the sake of this mission. Not only was it her duty to change certain details, she was going to have fun with it. This was a chance to play.

"I study performing arts at a prestigious Vinewood school. A lot of famous people have gone there. I hope to break into Vinewood one day." Mack stated, trying her hardest to keep a straight face.

Mack knew the statistics of how many times it never worked out for people who tried to make it in Vinewood. No one was ever taken seriously when they said it bluntly like that. She was curious about whether this girl would be a realist and shoot down Mack, or attempt to be an opportunist and play along with Mack's dreams.

"Well, stop in if you become famous." The clerk awkwardly replied, and Mack just nodded her head as she held back a snigger, feeling how uncomfortable the girl felt from where she was standing, nearly halfway across the shop.

"This is ridiculous." Michael grumbled from the change rooms, as the two females in the shop made their way over to see the big reveal.

"Daddy, come on. I've seen the outfits in your wardrobe that step mom Bessie makes you wear. That french maid outfit for men, not a good look. This is nothing." Mackenzie loudly stated, feeling brave and deciding to mess around with Michael a little. She was smiling and finding it hard not to laugh at what she was telling Michael.

Michael stormed out of the change room and landed in front of Mack pointing a finger at her.

"I'm going to kill you later." Michael warned her.

Suddenly Mack felt very meek and shied away. She knew what Michael was capable of. She didn't know whether he was pissed off and over exaggerating or pissed off and telling the truth.

The clerk decided to speak up and end the exchange of words between Michael and Mack.

"Dignity aside, I think that might just work." The clerk stated as she eyed Michael's clothing.

Michael handed over the money to the clerk, not even bothering to wait for the change as he began to leave the store.

"Good luck at the interview." The clerk called out.

Mack only waved her goodbye as she followed Michael out of the store. He got into the tailgater and Mack hesitated as she got in beside him. She felt incredibly nervous now and regretted messing with Michael by saying what she said in the shop. Even when she handled situations smoothly she felt lots of social anxiety. Saying stupid things to a known killer was stupid on her behalf.

"I'm all for fake stories of me actually getting some, no mater how humiliating you try to make it. But why did you have to use Bessie? That's a fat person name." Michael cringed, sending Mack a sidewards smile as he took off down the road.

Mack's face of worry disappeared as she broke out into a grin. Not only was Michael not shitty with her after all, he was actually amused by what she had pulled.

"That's the whole point. Sorry, I was just mucking around. I may have got too carried away." Mack admitted, sending out a small giggle.

Michael just smiled and shook his head. What the girl had just done to him was something he would have done to Trevor back in the old days. He nearly mentioned that to Mack, but decided it was best not to bring up that name.

"So I'm going to drop you off at home. Feel free to drive over to my place if you want to watch the fall out. Up to you, your part is done." Michael shrugged.

"Um, yeah, okay. Drive me back to my house and I'll head over to yours. I'll text Tracey now and see if she's up to hang." Mack agreed.

* * *

Mack was sitting in the De Santa lounge room with Tracey, doing the usual of watching Fame or Shame with her.

It was a show that was actually beginning to grow on Mack. She wasn't usually a reality television show fan, thinking they're all trash. This one though, she liked. She explained to Tracey it's appeal was because it was so "wrong town" - it wasn't politically correct and pushed the boundaries. She liked that.

Her mobile phone began ringing and she walked out of the lounge room to answer it.

"Hello, Mackenzie speaking." She answered as she saw it was an unknown number on her screen.

"Good job. I saw the surveillance cameras. You've done well for a first mission." Lester complimented her on the other side of the phone.

"Thank you." Mack modestly responded as she was unsure of what to exactly say.

"Michael is on his way back now. I'll definitely be in touch about some more work soon." Lester informed her.

"O-ok. Thanks." Mack responded.

"Instead of a cut, I'll give you a very big tip for this mission. Invest in some Bleeter stocks ASAP." Lester said to Mack.

"Wouldn't that be dodgy looking? Not only is killing for personal gain a crime, insider trading is too. This counts as insider trading... I think." Mack responded to Lester.

"You're a money launderer from what I've heard. You're a big girl, you can cover your own tracks. Anyway, I'll be in contact." Lester stated as he swiftly hung up.

Mack was still for a few moments as she lowered her phone and went deep in thought. If she invested a small amount in Bleeter right now, she wouldn't be caught. She would win brownie points with Lester too by taking his advice.

She went back to the lounge area and sat down. She opened up the stock trading app on her phone and dropped two hundred on Bleeter stocks.

Mack had a stock account as she owned a few shares she inherited. She only ever kept them for the dividends and not the investment. She didn't like the risk of investing in shares. Stock market people were whiny, greedy people she felt.

Not too long later, she heard Michael come through the door. He entered the lounge room and saw his daughter and her friend watching the television. He sent Mack a wink, to which she responded with a smile.

"Out." Michael said to Tracey.

"No! We're watching Fame or Shame!" Tracey loudly protested.

"Tough fucking tits!" Michael gruffly responded as he wrestled the remote out of Tracey's hands.

Tracey let out a loud scream and stormed off, stomping loudly as she went up the stairs in her tantrum state.

"So what's exactly going to happen?" Mack asked Michael once Tracey had well and truly gone and Michael changed the channel to the LifeInvader keynote.

"Just wait and see." Michael said to Mackenzie.

Mack didn't respond but watched keenly as the keynote started. She felt apprehensive. Usually if Jay Norris were talking she would be complaining loudly, or mentally come up with sarcastic remarks to everything he would say if she wasn't in a position to say it out loud. She was not a fan of him, to put it lightly.

But she knew something big was about to happen and it almost made her anxious. She even felt a bit sorry for the guy and found it hard to watch. Something was about to happen to him and he had no idea.

Just as Jay Norris was announcing the new phone, Michael nudged Mack and pulled out his own phone.

Mack only cocked up an eyebrow as she wasn't sure what was happening. Michael then continued with what he needed to do.

"And...fuck you." Michael grinned as his phone began to ring someone.

Seconds later the phone on the screen began to ring. Mack instantly knew it was Michael calling Jay.

"Hold on a second. I think someone's trying to dock with me." Jay Norris creepily said into the camera, and answered Michael's call.

Out of nowhere a large explosion went off which shocked Mack as she was expecting that. It made her shriek and jump in freight.

On the television Jay Norris' lifeless body lay flat on the stage with body parts strewn all over.

Even Michael was surprised at the fall out.

"Oh! Ach! Oh! Jesus! Whoa! Lest... Whoa" Michael loudly stated.

The two of them sat in silence for minutes, even after the broadcast was shut off.

Surprisingly it was Mack who was the first to speak, as the shock wore off for her first.

"Welcome back to the game." She said to Michael.

"Welcome to the game, kid. You seem to be fucked up just enough for this business." Michael smiled at Mack.


	18. Chapter 18

**Woohoo I'm now getting reviews! You guys have no idea how much this all means to me. It always makes my day when I see I've received a reciew. Thanks to E.T.1234, Trev and jg00 for the reviews, as well as RedRose85 who's been there since the beginning.**

 **I decided to incorporate some Strangers & Freaks missions in because hey, they're good filler. Next chapter will be a mixture of both a Strangers & Freaks mission as well as some original content.**

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"Uh Mackenzie?" Callum, Mackenzie's room mate called out from the lounge room.

"Uh, yeah?" Mack asked as she jumped off her bed, setting her laptop down as she went out to see what he wanted.

She landed in the lounge room where she noticed Callum point to a peculiar truck sitting in the driveway.

"Why the hell is there a tow tuck in the drive?" Callum asked.

Mack didn't bother responding to Callum as she stepped outside to investigate. She made her way over to the driver's side and grinned when she saw who was in the seat.

"My, picking me up in a tow truck. You sure know how to make a girl feel special." Mack joked as she greeted Franklin.

"Get in, gurl!" A girl in the passenger seat called out, and it was only then that Mack realised that Franklin had company.

The girl was dark skinned like Franklin, with very noticeable blood shot eyes. She was fairly wonky and couldn't fit still and it was made apparent to Mack that she was definitely under the influence of something. Her clothes were less than classy.

"Yo, Mack. This is Tonya. Her stupid ass boyfriend got me towin' trucks for him." Franklin complained loudly, not caring that Tonya heard him. He also rolled his eyes to add to his complaint.

"Oh, um, okay. We can reschedule our hanging for another time if it's more convenient." Mack suggested, darting her eyes between the two occupants of the car as she was still unsure of what exactly was going on.

"Don't be silly. You go on and get your white ass in!" Tonya called out to Mack.

Mack shrugged to herself as she told Franklin and Tonya she'd be right back out - she just had to go inside to grab her bag.

Mack previously had made plans to hang out with Franklin today. He had called up the previous night and was straight with her. He was looking at expanding his networks and shaking loose some dead ends he had known his whole life. He felt Mack was a viable friend to have if he wanted to branch out into company with money. Mack appreciated his honesty but only agreed when he mentioned he also enjoyed her company and didn't just want to use her for status reasons.

She had been used numerous times throughout her life when people found out her family were to an extent at least a little wealthy. She did enjoy hanging out with Franklin and was glad he was genuine in wanting to be friends with her.

They had plans for Franklin to pick her up and then go do stupid stuff driving around. He definitely didn't mention anything about a tow truck or a Tonya. Mack was excited though, she loved spontaneous adventures. This was completely random and she loved it.

After going inside to grab her items, Mack went back outside and opened the passenger door, jumping in. The truck was a bench seat so all three were able to fit in, with Tonya in the middle sitting nice and snug next to Franklin.

"A'ight we good? Imma call dispatch." Tonya asked the other occupants of the vehicle.

Mack only nodded in response and Franklin didn't even bother with a reply as Tonya grabbed the radio to contact dispatch.

Luckily she didn't press the talk button as seconds after she grabbed the radio a call came through anyway.

"Vehicle twenty-nine, come in, this is dispatch. We got an abandoned car on San Andreas Avenue." A voice over the radio came through.

"Yo, we on that like ugly on your momma." Tonya responded in a sassy manner.

Mack let out a loud snort as she was unable to contain it. As rude and trashy as the response was, it actually amused Mack. It was funny that in a professional setting someone would actually say that.

The operator informed Tonya that he didn't quite understand what she was saying so she then spoke up.

"It's Tonya, fool, and my boy Franklin. We got some white girl named Mack here too. We fillin' in for JB" Tonya stated.

"Er, copy that. Hi, Tonya. Car's a junker, been there for days. 10-7. I'm gone." The operator said as he quickly signed off, obviously trying to get off the radio as soon as possible before Tonya could insult his mother again.

Franklin then began driving through the streets as he made his way to the abandoned car that was on the radio.

"A bucket. This one should be easy." Tonya stated.

"Shit. Not easy enough for JB to drag his ass outta whatever crackhouse he's laying in." Franklin remarked.

"So um, I'm still confused. I don't know what's going on. Why are we towing cars?" Mack spoke up, finding the courage to finally see what was going on. She was still very lost as she never got an explanation on whom exactly Tonya was, and why Franklin was driving around this tow truck.

It also appeared strange to Mackenzie that Franklin was doing legitimate work, but she would never say that to him.

"Me and my man JB own this towin' business and we killin' it." Tonya responded to Mack proudly.

"Except you ain't killin it cause you got me doing towing for you," Franklin said to Tonya but then addressed Mack's confusion "JB is a crackhead who lying somewhere in a crackhouse so Tonya got me to do some towing."

"Oh, okay." Mack quietly responded. She didn't know what else to say. She didn't want to say anything that would annoy Tonya. She didn't look like someone you should be on a bad side of.

"Move that seat back and you know I'll make it right for you. Maybe this Mack girl can get right in and we'll make it a three way kinda deal." Tonya proposed.

Mack's eyes opened wide. She definitely was not expecting that and was certainly not comfortable with this situation now.

Luckily before Mack could protest, Franklin shot down Tonya instantly.

"She got morals and a boyfriend she's faithful to," Franklin bitterly stated "and I'm going to have to pass on yo offer."

This made Tonya shut her mouth and the three were silent as they drove through the streets of Los Santos to get to San Andreas Avenue.

Mack was just staring out of the window watching the scenery whizz by. She suddenly didn't feel this was a fun adventure anymore and felt uncomfortable. She wanted Franklin to finish this job and get rid of Tonya so they could hang out as planned. Tonya definitely wasn't her kind of person.

They finally got to their destination and the abandoned car was made apparent by the damage done to it by vandals, including let down tyres. Los Santos was a fairly safe city outside of the seedy suburbs but an abandoned car was an easy target for bored vandals. This car was proof of that.

"A'ight, baby, back it up nice and steady." Tonya said to Franklin who only grunted in response as he was in deep concentration to line the truck up properly with the car to tow it.

Franklin hooked up the car and began driving back to the impound lot. He was just as keen as Mackenzie to finish this job and go do anything else but this. Perhaps even more so, as he was the one who had to deal with Tonya. Mack was only there for the ride.

"Man, this was not how I saw my day going." Franklin exclaimed loudly as he let out a big sigh.

Mack shot him a look of understanding and sympathy before going back to looking out the window.

Franklin and Tonya made some small talk on the drive back to the impound lot. Tonya questioned Franklin about his recent activities which quickly turned into a minor argument about both JB and Tonya's recent drug use. Tonya easily shrugged off Franklin's comments so the air was cleared by the time Franklin dropped off the now impounded car in the correct spot.

As soon as the car was dropped off, Mack opened the door of the truck and climbed out, not even hiding her eagerness to go do something else.

Franklin was on the same page as her however as he jumped out seconds after her and made his way to his parked car.

"I'll see you on the block. Anything you need, you holler at me." Tonya called out to Franklin, not even bothering to say anything to Mackenzie.

Mack only gave a weak wave as a parting greeting as she jumped into Franklin's car. Franklin sped off and the pair were silent until the impound lot disappeared from the rear view.

"Sorry bout that. Sometimes you gotta do stuff that you gain nothin' from but it stops people hasslin' you for shit." Franklin stated.

Mack gave a weak smile to Franklin's statement.

"I completely understand. Before Brandon got married and we lived together, it was the same stuff. I did stuff purely to make it easier to live with him." Mack responded in an empathetic manner.

"Yep, you get it. For me it's my crazy aunt who gets involved in weird shit like that." Franklin added.

"So what do you want to do now?" Mack asked Franklin curiously.

"After that ordeal I ain't even able to think clearly. Anything in mind?" Franklin asked Mackenzie.

"Want to do a Cluckin' Bell run?" Mackenzie suggested.


	19. Chapter 19

**Finally this story is moving along and featuring some canon missions!**

* * *

Mack enjoyed the time she spent with Franklin that evening. They didn't get up to much, they just sat in Cluckin' Bell and spoke about numerous topics. Mack felt the time spent with Franklin that night was sort of similar to the time she hung out with Michael, but also very different due to the difference in both Michael and Franklin's personalities. Michael was very pessimistic and he held a sarcastic view about why the world sucks. Franklin was also sarcastic, but he was very optimistic. He had bright plans for his future.

It was also the first time that Mackenzie's dark side had come out in front of her new friends. Mack was a sweet girl, a little sassy and intelligent, but both Michael and Franklin (and Tracey) knew she was a nice person. Because of this she was protective over her friends, and this was the first time she had to show her nasty side. She had a 'don't mess with me' mentality and the degree of revenge was dependent on how well you knew her and how much you fucked with her.

Today as Cluckin' Bell employee had gotten on Mack's side, through Franklin. They had been sitting innocently discussing things when an employee made a loud remark about how coloured people never order and sit around wasting space – of course stronger language and words were used.

Mack stood up and objected loudly in front of all the patrons, but the employee refused to back down. Instead he called Mack a 'whore' and 'white trash'. Mackenzie lost her cool and got into a screaming match and insulted the fast food worker for the fact they were a fast food worker and then got asked to leave when the manager was called over. Before she was ejected she asked if the manager stood by the employee's disgusting behaviour and language to which the manager replied yes. Mackenzie made sure to smear her food all over the table and pour her drinks over the seat, table and floor before she marched out with Franklin.

In the car ride home Mackenzie was able to collect herself and become calm again, as rage drained from her body. In her rage she had whipped her phone out and recorded the entire conversation. She then sent the media file as an attachment to the Cluckin' Bell LifeInvader page and threatened to not only take the incriminating evidence to the media, but also to the relevant authorities for hate speech and hate crimes. She got a reply later in the night from the company saying they were taking it seriously and will be looking into it 'but cannot comment on individual cases and cannot inform Mackenzie of the outcome'. Mack was still happy with everything as she was very sure the people involved would have their employment terminated, and Franklin also thought it was hilarious.

In the week since that encounter Mackenzie was back at university for the new school year. It had been going okay for her, she had a few friends in some of her classes. But after a hard week of work and university she was looking forward to hanging with Tracey.

Tracey had made plans for the both of them, and came to pick up Mack in her Issi. On the way down to Vespucci Beach Tracey was telling Mack about the plans for today. They would rent a locker along the pier and then jump onto a jet ski being driven by some of Los Santos most powerful and rich people, Tracey had her connections.

When they got to the beach and put all of their belongings into the locker, Tracey took a look at what was becoming her best friend. Tracey knew Mack was a pretty girl, and wanted her to feel and live up to her full potential.

Mack on the other hand was feeling nervous and self-conscious. She knew she wasn't the Los Santos definition of good looking. Her boyfriend David would disagree, but Mack was still a very modest girl when it came to her looks. She was feeling anxious about being on a yacht full of handsome buff men and beautiful girls in bikinis.

"Stop fidgeting, you look great!" Tracey exclaimed, as she took off her loose fitting top and put it into the locker, leaving her with just her one piece, a pair of skimpy shorts and a hat.

"Thanks." Mack responded not wanting to appear weak and needy by her insecurities.

"Aren't you going to take off your top as well?" Tracey asked Mack.

Mack was wearing a polo shirt with a prestigious tiny logo stitched onto the left of her chest, and a dark denim mini skirt. She hadn't dressed like this since she was about sixteen, but she wanted to fit in with Tracey. She didn't have the killer bod that Tracey had, but she was still able to pull off what she was wearing now.

"No, I'm only wearing a bra underneath, not a bikini. It might be a little weird to show up in a lacy bra." Mack giggled, putting her bag into the locker and shutting the door.

"Oh well, maybe after some drinks and other things to loosen you up." Tracey winked.

Mack only shot her a look as Tracey bounded to the end of the pier where two men were waiting with jet skis.

"Our ride." Tracey squealed, jumping onto the back of one of them. Mack sighed, and shot a nervous smile as she approached the second Jet Ski.

* * *

"Wow, this blow is making me feel fuzzy." Tracey giggled as she sucked up the white powder off the table with her nose.

"What about your little friend, do you want some? Little miss goody two shoes." One of the men laughed, a few of the other girls around giggling.

Although the man's statement seemed condescending towards Mack, it had been the running joke of the afternoon. Each of the women on the yacht took turns in going off to do sexual acts with the men, Mack refused as she had a boyfriend. This made the men like her more, half because they saw it as a challenge but also because it made them respect her more than the other women.

Now at this late stage in the afternoon after many drinks she was considered one of the boys more so than a sex object. The only one who was still trying was a gay man who was trying to recruit her for a porn he was shooting. He said her sarcastic and sassy manner coupled with a hint of pure and wholesome could get her big bucks in the amateur porn industry. Mack had respectfully been declining.

"Pass that shit here, I'll show you what a pro I am at this." Mack growled, and the man made an 'ooooh' sound as he passed the baggy over.

Mack made two neat piles as she passed the bag back to the guy who provided her with the coke. She asked for a credit card and kept her hand out until he passed her a platinum credit card, it looked like he was digging around to find it rather than passing the first available card.

Mack rolled her eyes as she decided not to make a comment and just cut the lines with the card provided. To her it didn't matter whether it was a million dollar credit card, or a bus pass. Obviously to those who wanted to show off, it did.

"Lick it." Mack said to Tracey as she presented her with the card.

Tracey took no hesitation in licking the cocaine residue off the card earning a cheer from the rest of the party goers.

"Is the top of your mouth numb?" Mack asked Tracey.

"Yeah, it is!" Tracey exclaimed.

"It means it's good shit. It's not cut with weak stuff." Mack grinned, taking the hundred dollar bill from the table and snorting the line she made for herself. She passed the note to Tracey and Tracey did the same.

"How do you know this stuff?" Tracey asked Mack in amazement. Tracey enjoyed Mack's company but always assumed she was a little square. Tracey thought she was teaching Mack how to live, but here was Mack, the expert on cocaine.

"Brandon. He used to take me to high end clubs." Mack shrugged.

"The only Brandon I know from around is Brandon Lancaster. Great guy, he's recruited some of the best porn stars. Usually they're disposable ones that do one amateur as a debut and lose what they have going for them, but he's great at what he does." The gay porn producer exclaimed out loud.

"That's her brother." Tracey giggled.

"Well that's convenient, no one would be able to recruit you for my films better than your own brother." The producer winked at Mack.

She rolled her eyes. She could understand why Michael always had this reaction when someone knew who her brother was (He had told her this). Even she was finding it ridiculous that every man and dog she came across lately knew Brandon.

Tracey who was now drunk and high and wanted to be centre of attention jumped onto the table they were sitting around and started dancing. This suited Mack well as she wanted the attention taken off her. She sighed a breath of relief and she sat back on the chair and took a swig of a drink that was passed to her.

Mackenzie had zoned out as she was engulfed in her own thoughts. She couldn't decide whether she was having the time of her life, or whether she was uncomfortable and out of her comfort zone. Her attention was only jerked back to the group when the music stopped. She then noticed Michael had somehow come aboard and had thrown the speaker away which made Tracey stop dancing.

"Hey, man titties!" One of the guys yelled out at Michael.

Mack then noticed that Michael was only wearing a pair of shorts. She had only seen him wear suits before, so it was strange to her to see him like that. She thought the derogatory commentaries made by people about his weight were unfair, he wasn't tight and buff, but he wasn't obese. His body type was exactly what you'd expect for an average forty five year old who didn't obsess over his weight. Average.

"Come on, sweetheart. I'm taking you out of here." Michael said as he approached his daughter.

He saw Mack but barely even acknowledged her as he approached Tracey. He didn't care if Mack hung out with TV and porn producers. Mackenzie wasn't his concern, she could do what she wanted. He only wanted his daughter off this boat.

"Dad! You're embarrassing me. These are my friends!" Tracey whined loudly as she pointed to all of the people around.

"Yeah, you're embarrassing her, dude!" A guy behind Tracey remarked, trying to get rid of Michael so the new two girls wouldn't leave.

Mack looked down as she tried to ignore the arguing between Tracey and Michael. She felt uncomfortable, and this time she didn't have her phone to keep her distracted. It was back in the locker on the beach. She didn't want to get involved, and was doing her best not to.

Michael ended up grabbing Tracey by the arm and dragging her around. One of the guys attempted to stop Michael but Michael grabbed him by the throat before throwing him onto the ground. Mack was impressed as she bit her lip feeling awkward. Michael was a lot stronger than he looked. Mack guessed he had nothing on David when he beat up the criminal in front of her, but she was still impressed.

Tracey continued to argue and protest as Michael dragged her onto an empty Jet Ski and rode off with her on the back. The two males who were still around – as everyone but Mack had ran away, had jumped onto the spare two.

The whirring of the Jet Ski engines filled the air, but grew fainter as the vehicles disappeared. Soon again, everything was quiet except for the waves crashing on the boat.

Mack sighed as the reality of the situation hit her. She couldn't stay on the boat. The only reason she was on the boat to begin with was because of Tracey, but now the leaders were angrily chasing after Tracey and her father with guns, so when they did return it wouldn't be a happy return to Mack.

But there were no row boats or spare Jet Skis to make her way back to shore.

Mack sighed as she put her feet over the boat and looked into the sea. It was a nice day, the sun was glistening on the water which meant that the water would be a nice temperature. Mack was a strong swimmer due to childhood swimming lessons. But she still wasn't looking forward to the swim back to shore in her clothes.

Mack closed her eyes and enjoyed the warm sun on her skin. She was going to lap up these last moments.

Before she realised what she was doing she threw her cheap flip flops to the wind, took off her top and tied it around her wrist to stop it from dragging her down and jumped into the water, ready to swim vigorously to shore.


	20. Chapter 20

**So this part is a game changer and changes everything in this story. Thanks to the huge increase in followers/favourites lately, I hope you all decide to keep reading after this part. I've been nervous about it since I started this story.**

* * *

Michael couldn't help but feel sorry for himself as he lit up a cigarette and looked from the pier onto the water. Even when he tried to be a good father, he fucked up with his kids. He was sure Tracey and Jimmy would come around, but he wasn't sure when.

He knew they were both good kids deep down. They had given him trouble a lot since they became teenagers. Jimmy was a chubby boy with no friends who screamed obsencities at his television screen, but at his age Michael had been to jail twice. Tracey hung out with questionable people and did questionable activities but at her age her mother was the most sought after escort in the Northern area. Michael was holding out that just maybe, one day both of his kids would appreciate what he was trying to do for them and what he had sacrificed. Maybe they would even thank him.

As Michael flicked his cigarette butt onto the sand below his eyes landed on something that had just washed onto the beach. There were many families, couples and friends frolicking on the beach and on the shore but this one figure stood out. He went to go find a ladder down to go investigate.

Mack was puffing out of breath as she lay down on the shore. She had easily made the swim back from the boat to the beach, but she was still puffing from the exercise. She laid down in the shallow water on her back with her eyes closed. She would work out how the hell she was getting home later, for now she would lay quietly and enjoy the sun. That whole ordeal was now over.

Michael approached Mackenzie as he felt something he didn't feel very often, guilt. He had noticed her on the boat but it didn't even cross his mind to take her with Tracey. He had left her in a dangerous situation to fend for herself. Now here she was, washed up on the beach.

"Hey, kid. You alright?" Michael asked her, he was trying to hide the guilt and worry in his voice.

Mack on the other hand held no hostile feelings towards Michael. It hadn't even crossed her mind that she should be mad for leaving her behind. She thought it was sweet that he saved Tracey despite the consequences and Mack was independent enough to save herself.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Help me up?" Mack asked, rolling onto her stomach flashing Michael a small smile.

Michael immediately offered his hand to Mack and she took no hesitation in accepting it.

As he helped her up he took a good look at her and it was like a switch turned on in his brain. He was seeing Mack in a new light and he would now never be able to go back.

Aside from the night he met her when he assumed she was an escort hired by Franklin, Mackenzie had never been a sex object to Michael. She was a goofy friend of his daughter's. An innocent looking kid. But as he helped her up he saw her in a new light. He had only ever seen her fully covered and usually in baggy clothes which gave the illusion of her being frumpy. He had spent copious amounts of time with her, even one on one. But he had never even thought of her as anything but a kid.

Right now she was scantily clad. She had a top in her hands but was only wearing a bra and a skirt. He had no idea she had a nice body under all of those clothes, and her "curves" were real curves and not the kind of curves used as a polite way of referring to someone as overweight.

He tried to change his train of thought and the way he saw her, but it was too late. Even when she quickly put her top back on, he couldn't help but to be attracted to her. The wet shirt clung to her body and outlined what was underneath. A spell had been cast.

"Uh, thanks. Are you alright? The last I saw of you was you getting shot at by those psychos." Mack asked Michael.

He took a deep breath as he knew he had to carry on and pretend he didn't want to do many things to the young girl. He had to pretend in the space of thirty seconds she hadn't gone from an almost daughter figure to someone he would most likely have inappropriate thoughts about.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Took care of them." Michael bragged, not realising that he even puffed his chest out at this statement.

"That's good. That whole ordeal was a blur wasn't it? Out of nowhere you arrived, and now here we both are on the beach. Where's Tracey?" Mack asked Michael.

Michael huffed as he looked into the distance. He felt really uncomfortable now. Not only did he have to deal with his two kids now hating him as much as his wife did, he was having conflicting feelings about someone he shouldn't have. The worst part wasn't that she was so much younger than him, or that she was his daughter's closest friend lately, or even that she had a much older brother that was rich and powerful, and a detective boyfriend.

No. The worst thing was that she was previously a female he connected with, without being attracted to her. When they spent that night together it was about good conversation and enjoying each other's company platonically. But those days were now over. Now all he could think about was the things he wanted to do with her, and that wasn't deep and meaningful conversations anymore.

"She went home without me, she feels I ruined her day…" Michael trailed off, pointing to the boat off in the distance where not too long ago they were both aboard.

"Oh, right," Mack said quietly, but then decided to quickly cheer up Michael "I can definitely talk to her. She'll come around."

Michael was about to protest that he didn't need her help but then he shut his mouth. He did need her help. It seemed like Mackenzie was the only ally in his life at the moment, compared to his entire family that hated him. He needed all the help he could get, irrespective of his new feelings.

"Thanks, appreciate it." Michael responded as he sent Mack a crooked smile, to which she smiled back. He never realised how much he liked her smile, but now he knew he did.

Mack cocked her head at Michael and bit her lip. She felt Michael was always getting the wrong end of the stick. She thought what Michael did was a little hot headed and dangerous, but even as a participant and guest on the boat she thought it was justified. Mack was becoming increasingly uncomfortable as time went on and she was glad when Michael busted up the party. If she was a parent, she would be horrified if a daughter of hers was dancing in a provocative manner on a table in front of porn producers. Therefore Mack felt that Tracey was being unreasonable and she felt sorry for Michael.

"Do you…do you wanna go do something? It's Saturday afternoon, the day is still young and now I don't have any plans. Let's hang?" Mack proposed to Michael, guessing he didn't want to retire home just yet.

Michael had to hide a sarcastic laugh as well as he could. Before he saw her wash up on the shore there was no one he would rather spend time with after a dramatic afternoon like that. Mack's company had pulled him through the Madrazo drama, just by her offering a down to earth chat. That was now off the table, he would need some serious alone time to get his head in order if he ever wanted to view her as he did previously.

At the same time the last thing he wanted to do was to return home to Amanda and the kids. He was willing for a night of awkward feelings for Mack over a miserable night at home with his family.

"Don't you have a boyfriend? How would he feel if he knew you were hanging around an old fart like me?" Michael asked, the amused smile still on his face. He had no qualms about Mack's boyfriend on their other encounters, but suddenly now he wanted to dig. He knew why.

"I don't know…like, I guess if I found out he was hanging around a MILF I'd be pretty pissed, maybe he would be? You're just Tracey's father though, so I don't know." Mack responded, feeling a little uncomfortable as she played with the hem on her skirt.

She hadn't even thought about how David felt about her new friendships. They were completely innocent and no inappropriate shenanigans were going on. Because it was such a normal thing to her, this was the first time she had stopped to actually think about it.

Michael on the other hand couldn't stop grinning. She had used "MILFs" as an example, could this attractive young lady consider him a DILF?

"Um…should we give Franklin a call? Maybe he might want to hang out." Mack asked Michael with a light smile on her face. She had decided there was nothing wrong with her new friends and she would just be honest when she texted David later and say she was with friends.

"Do you want to go to a bar? I bet I could rope Franklin into being designated driver. He is my protégé after all, he has to impress me." Michael bragged, not even trying to hide in his mind that he was attempting to flirt with the girl.

"Yeah, okay. If we're going out though do you reckon we could stop by mine first? I want to get changed as these clothes are drenched in salt water?" Mack asked, pointing down to the clothes she was currently wearing.

* * *

Michael looked around the lounge room he was currently seated in. It was definitely different to his home, even though they were in the same suburb.

He had only been to Mackenzie's house once and that was to pick her up. He had not been inside. The surrounding houses were a lot more modest than the mega mansions on Eclipse Boulevard where Michael was from.

Michael knew that Mack lived here with a room mate, who she informed Michael was away for the weekend in Vice City for some university thing.

The atmosphere of the place made it clear it was definutely students that lived here. The place wasn't dirty, but rather messy. There was a clothes pile on one of the couches of clean but unfolded laundry. There were a few scattered beer bottles and upon entering the house Mack had told him that if he needed a glass to check the dishwasher as it hadn't been emptied in three days.

Michael was a little intrigued by the way Mack and her room mate lived. He hadn't known anyone who went to college when he was her age. The only people who he knew went to college were yuppies at his golf course, who were now very past the college age.

"Sorry about the mess. Callum is a good room mate because he never has anyone over and he's always up for a beer but fuck, he never does any cleaning." Mack ranted as she reappeared into the lounge room and opened two beers with a bottle opener on her keys, before passing one to Michael.

"Did you call Franklin?" Michael asked quickly after taking one look at Mack.

Mack had only quickly showered when she got home to remove the salt from her skin. She had decided to use the salt in her hair to an advantage. She had braided her hair loosely to be worn casually on the side before she left for the boat party, and when she removed the braid when she got home she noticed the salt water had given her nice ringlets. So all she had to do was apply a bit of makeup and throw on a casual and light maxi dress.

Mack felt she looked casual and relaxed but Michael thought she looked great. He knew it was confirmed in his mind that no matter what she wore from now on, he would never see her as a goofy but smart kid again. He was now attracted to her.

"Yeah. He said he would be straight over. Apparently his aunt kicked him out of the house for some crazy feminist thing, so he was glad to have something to do." Mack responded as she took a large swig of her beer.

"You don't mind if I leave my car out the front if I get too drunk to drive? I can swing by tomorrow to pick it up." Michael asked Mack as he had already chugged most of his beer.

"Go for it. A lot of shit has gone down recently for you so feel free to drink your sorrows away in good company." Mack smiled at Michael.

Michael smiled back at her. He may now found her attractive but he knew he would still enjoy her company. That definitely hadn't changed.

They heard a car horn from the driveway and Mack looked outside to see Franklin's car parked in the driveway.

"We doin' this?" Mack heard Franklin yell from his car outside and Mack giggled.

"Right, Franklin's here. I'll bring two beers for the each of us for the road. Let's get this party started." Mack enthusiastically stated.


	21. Chapter 21

**Thank you all SO much for the positive feedback. I really appreciate it. I was so nervous that the story was taking this route but it seems like you guys are actually happy for the turn the story is taking. Thank you!**

* * *

Mackenzie, Franklin and Michael had not drank alcohol together since that house party that Michael had hosted, when he publicly got into a fight with Amanda and they sat around complaining about their lives.

Due to the circumstances that happened that afternoon Michael thought this would be the case once again. Instead Michael had the most fun he had enjoyed in a long time. Franklin picked both Mack and Michael up from Mack's house in Rockford Hills and they headed to Michael's favourite bar which was conveniently in the area.

Franklin and Mack downed many Pisswasser beers whilst Michael stayed on the whiskey. He only agreed to start on Pisswasser himself after Mack's teasing that he wasn't 'a real man' if she would do a shot with him.

One shot turned into many and they were forced to leave the bar when the last bar tender who was still serving them refused to do so. Mack mentioned she had lots of alcohol at her house to drink so they (irresponsibly considering Franklin was also hammered) jumped into Franklin's car and managed to get back unharmed.

They were too drunk to drink too much into the night and after just a few drinks they all called it a night to pass out in their allocated spaces.

* * *

Michael woke up the next day feeling quite groggy. It took him a few moments to realise he was on the couch belonging to his daughter's friend. He wasn't so drunk last night that he lost memory of events but certain moments seemed hazy as he went over the night in his mind.

He was startled when he saw a blonde hair girl silently creep for the front door but then he remembered and smiled at her. Franklin had managed to pull at the bar and bought this blonde girl back to drink with them. Michael wasn't quite sure what went down with them both but Mack allocated her roommate's empty bed to them both so Michael was pretty sure that Franklin would have scored. He would be correct.

"That was fun last night, you guys are a riot. Unfortunately I can't stay in contact as I don't want my boyfriend to find out what went down, but hopefully I might catch you all around." The girl (who's name Michael couldn't even remember) stated as she flashed a smile and headed out the door.

Michael just shook his head as he stood up and grabbed a glass from the dishwasher to pour himself a glass of water. His hangover wasn't as terrible as he anticipated but he still wasn't feeling great.

Seconds later Mack emerged into the kitchen and shot Michael a large grin.

"I think one of the best feelings in the world is when your one night stand thinks they're being smart by sneaking out first thing in the morning, meaning they're doing you the favour because you don't have to wait around awkwardly for them to leave. Jokes on them." Mack stated.

Michael almost gasped. He definitely knew that feeling Mack was describing but he had no idea she was the sort of girl who had one night stands.

Mack picked up on the vibe Michael was giving off so she spoke up.

"Don't think less of me, I'm usually in long term relationships. It's only happened maybe two or three times when I was drunk as fuck and my friends convinced me to do it." Mack shrugged, feeling very awkward.

"It's alright. You need to make the most of your youth, right? As I've told you previously, I've had relations with hookers before so I'm in no position to judge." Michael overshared with Mack as he raised his hands to show he wasn't hostile.

Mack only smiled and nodded as she herself grabbed a glass and drank some water.

Michael's phone went off. He checked the caller ID to see if it was his family but an unsaved number appeared on his screen. He had been out all night without warning but not one family member had even texted him to see if he was alive. That definitely stung him.

"Put on a suit and meet me at the garment factory. Tell Miss Lancaster to do the same, but substitute suit for a nice dress." Lester said over the phone and hanging up before Michael could even get a word in.

It took Michael a few moments to realise who "Miss Lancaster" was. It wasn't until he racked his brain for Lancasters and remembered that Brandon's surname was Lancaster that he realised Lester was referring to Mack.

"Lester called. Apparently we need to scrub up and head over to the garment factory he's renting as a front. He obviously has a job for us." Michael said to Mack.

"Oh, alright then. I'll try to painkiller and greasy breakfast this hangover away and get ready, I guess." Mack nodded.

Michael stood there awkwardly for a moment. He wasn't sure if Mack was politely hinting for him to leave or not. He didn't want to leave as he didn't want to go back to his uncaring and ungrateful family. He was also secretly enjoying the view of Mack in short pyjamas.

He then felt awkward about his feelings and decided to get out of there.

"I guess I better go home and do the same. I'll call you later and we can work out the travel arrangements to the garment factory." Michael offered.

"Yeah, okay. See you later." Mack smiled.

Michael made sure to take one long look at Mack before he turned away and slipped out the front door as he braced himself for his family.

* * *

"So, are you nervous? It's your first real preparation for a heist. Shit is about to get real." Brandon teased Mack as he drove them both to the garment factory.

"Why are you even coming along anyway? I thought you were only the connections guy. Why would you help in scoping out?" Mack asked Brandon as she crossed her arms across her chest to show she wasn't a fan of Brandon's teasing.

"Because seeing the preparations help me find the right people for the job. I get to see exactly what is going to go down, I get to analyse and then match up a connection. Plus, Lester likes me to pitch in an idea here and there." Brandon grinned proudly as he drove on.

Mack only nodded in response. She could have joked and teased that Brandon technically wasn't just a connections guy and was semi-involved but she wasn't in the mood. She was beginning to feel nervous like she did for the LifeInvader task she helped in. Mack had no way of knowing what would go down, and how she could even help out. It was either going to be socially awkward for her and she would look like an idiot, or just plain awkward if they got caught setting up a score.

Mack was silent the rest of the way, with Brandon grinning behind the wheel. He couldn't be more proud of the girl, she was following in his footsteps. He knew she was smart enough to not get too submerged or dependent on this world.

They pulled up at a run-down derelict looking warehouse and Brandon got out of the car.

Mack didn't bother saying a word to him as she followed behind him. Brandon went through the doors on the side of the building and they both climbed a set of stairs. When they got near the top they saw Lester grinning with his cane.

"Well if it isn't the two Lancaster siblings." Lester stated.

"Hello Lester. Mackenzie cleans up nicely doesn't she?" Brandon beamed.

Lester took a good look at Mackenzie, even walking around her to take a closer peek. She was asked to dress up so she wore a black sundress and curled her hair. She wore a little more makeup than usual and applied false eyelashes. She knew Lester wasn't being a pervert, but she still felt uncomfortable over all the scrutiny.

"Yes, well, this will do nicely." Lester decided as he took a step back.

"So what are we doing? Why am I dressed up and Brandon is not?" Mack asked curiously.

"The hell is this place?" A voice from the stairs yelled out.

"Nice timing," Lester said towards Mack but then turned to Michael who was climbing the stairs "It's a garment factory. An easy front."

Michael reached the top of the stairs and paused. He saw Brandon Lancaster looking smug as ever but then his eyes landed on his younger sister. Michael took a deep breath as he realised how nice she looked dressed up and needed to stay cool to not make things awkward, or get on Brandon's bad side by showing interest in his younger sister.

"Now Michael is here, please explain why we're dressed up and you two aren't. I'm dying to know." Mack grinned, as she didn't want to come across as someone who is impatient or complains a lot.

"We're setting up the score. Today we're casing the jewel store we're going to hit. Michael is going to play the part of a man trying to keep his mistress happy by taking her jewel shopping." Lester began but paused to wait for Mack's reaction. She gave one he wasn't expecting.

"So I'm the mistress? I can do this. I've seen many friends fall into being the side woman trap, waiting desperately and believing when he says he will leave his wife soon." Mack giggled.

"Yes well, you don't need to do much. I'll explain further when we get there. Michael you can drive." Lester stated.

Michael looked between Lester and Mackenzie. He was secretly excited that such a beautiful girl would be his pretend mistress. He was more excited than he should be for a score set up, so he pushed it all the back of his head as he got out his car keys.

"Now Michael, don't get too eager. I need to see you in my office, we have some things we need to discuss." Lester said to Michael, and began to hobble away to a room out the back.

"Why does that sound so sexual?" Brandon teased, and Michael did not hesitate to flip Brandon the birdie as he walked into Lester's office to discuss what Lester wanted to discuss.

The two siblings went quiet as they waited for the door of the office to shut and the sound of muffled voices talking. It was then that Mack spoke up which surprised Brandon, as he was expecting his younger sister to be meek and shy.

"What are they really talking about?" Mack asked curiously.

"The score. Lester and Michael were a successful team, I think they want to discuss some things in private, such as crew connections." Brandon answered.

Mack was walking around picking things up to look at them, but Brandon's statement got her attention as she snapped to look around at him.

"Isn't that your job? Why are they doing this in private?" Mack asked him.

"Michael is the expert. Now Lester has him, some of my services may be redundant. I'm still the connections guy, and I'll always be that." Brandon proudly grinned.

Mack eyed her brother well. She knew him better than anyone, better than his own wife. She swore for a second before he gave her his big grin there was a look he gave her. It was a look that Mack couldn't describe. The look held different emotions: fear, despair, anger. But it was a sign that Mack could tell that Brandon wasn't completely okay with how these changes were unfolding.


	22. Chapter 22

**Finally! We're so close to the Jewel Store job and then we finally get Trevor! I'm excited for what this story will soon bring.**

* * *

When Michael and Lester left the office they were talking in, no other words were exchanged as the two men made their way down the stairs. The two Lancaster siblings shot each other a look before going down the stairs.

They got into Michael's tailgater. Lester in the passenger seat, Brandon in the back behind Lester and Mack behind Michael. Michael took no hesitation in speeding away from the Garment factory.

"Your FIB buddies, they uh, know you're back in business?" Lester asked Michael.

Brandon whipped his head to listen intensively. He had heard little snippets from Michael, well, mostly from Amanda. He had also heard gossip at the country club. He wanted to hear the story from Michael himself. He knew it was none of his business but he was still interested. Who wouldn't be interested in such worthy gossip?

Mack on the other hand had heard the real story straight from Michael's mouth. She noticed her brother's nosey behaviour and decided to stay out of it. She looked out the window of the car and blocked out all subsequent conversations the other occupants were having.

She was jerked away when she was handed a pair of sunglasses from Lester. She sent him a quizzical look but put them on. A pair of regular looking spectacles was handed to Michael by Lester as well.

Michael, unlike Mack, decided to speak up.

"My eyesight is fine." Michael growled to Lester.

"They're fitted with a camera and a radio relay. I'm going to run the operation from the car, while you're in the store, getting what we need." Lester explained.

"Lester and I can then create the jobs needed for the operation, and we can go back and plan." Brandon chimed in.

Michael pulled the tailgater around the corner of the shop and announced they were at their destination. Mack didn't bother even looking at Lester and Brandon as she got out of the car shakily. She was feeling nervous and if she acknowledged the other two she may have backed out.

She trailed Michael as they began their walk to the jewel store. Michael noticed this and spun around to face her.

"If we're going to pretend to be man and mistress, we should probably look more convincing." Michael stated to Mack.

She nodded, and didn't say anything as he offered his arm towards her. Mack wasn't sure whether she should just grab his arm as it was less intimate than a hand hold, but she took hold of his hand anyway. She felt her nerves easing as this skin on skin contact gave her reassurance that she had backup, and it made her feel better.

Michael couldn't contain his smile as they walked into the jewellery store together.

"You reading me?" Both Michael and Mack heard over their earpieces.

"Mmhm." Michael responded, and Mack didn't bother replying.

Mack looked around and took in the atmosphere. She had heard about Vangelico before in movies, and spoiled rich girls on Lifeinvader. She had never stepped foot in the store before. In fact, the only jewellery store she had ever entered were cheap and tacky ones with plastic aimed at teenagers. This almost seemed overwhelming for her, but having Michael's hand in hers bought her back down to earth.

"Okay. We need lots of pictures of the security features, the alarm system. Ventilation, cameras. We'll also need photos of the security guards themselves so we can see their gear, and their build. Photos of other staff and the goods would be helpful, too." Lester said over the earpiece.

Without even having to speak about it, the two split up to take photos. Michael easily took photos with his faux glasses, snapping shots of the security, alarms, ventilation and the cameras.

Mack snugly fit with her role and shot the security guards a big flirty smile as she took a few photos of them with the sunglasses she was given. Their faces, their torsos, their legs, their radios. She then played the part of the smitten mistress, running over to the cases and gasping as she pretended to throw less than subtle hints towards Michael about how beautiful the jewellery was, and how much she wanted it.

"Good work you two. Now go speak to the assistant." Lester called over the earpiece.

Michael then approached the woman at the front, dragging Mackenzie with him.

"Hey, beautiful." Michael opened with, using flattery to the woman to win her over.

The woman stayed silent but sent him a look to show she was interested. Michael took a look at Mack to mentally prepare himself for what he was about to say about the young girl. He closed his eyes and hoped she knew he didn't mean what he was about to say.

"I need to pick up a little something for the woman in my life. Well, she's one of them." Michael stated and then chuckled towards the end.

Mack didn't bother to say anything but let out an obnoxious laugh as she grabbed Michael's arm. Her plan was to look like she was someone who was uncomfortable trying to hide it. Her plan worked, as the saleswoman responded accordingly.

"Well I'm sure I can help you. Tell me, what do you like? What's your taste?" The woman asked Mack directly.

Mack blinked rapidly as she was caught off guard. She wasn't expecting the woman to address her. What was she meant to like? She knew nothing about jewellery.

"She's modest. That's a nice way of saying cheap isn't it? Thank god. This isn't my wife we're talking about. I don't know. I don't want to spend too much. I'm thinking maybe… ten grand?" Michael responded.

Mack did the thing again where she laughed loudly uncomfortably. This time it wasn't completely fake. She was glad he came to her rescue and stopped Mack from blowing their cover but Michael's words made her feel uneasy. She knew that Michael was talking about her "character" she was portraying and not Mack herself, but she didn't like being addressed that way. This was all fictional but she still felt bad for being a mistress.

"Our rings start at eight. Our pendants start at twelve." The sales woman coolly responded, using a sultry voice to try and grab the sale.

"Oh my god that's too much! But… an eight grand ring would look nice on my right hand, and maybe the left in the near future? My friends keep saying you'll never leave your wife, but this could prove the girls otherwise." Mack spoke up waggling her left ring finger, finally deciding to join in and play her part.

Michael asked a few more questions to stay in character and to also grab some intel, and the sales woman responded to them the best she could. Even Mack though the woman was doing well as a cool and collected sales person.

"Alright. I think you just made a sale. I'm going to think about it, come back to you, baby. Don't go anywhere." Michael said to the sales woman before he turned away and walked out of the store. Mack followed on his heels.

"Have a wonderful day." The security guard door man said as he opened the door for the two. Mack was the only one to thank him as they headed out.

Mack stayed completely silent as she followed Michael back to his car. He spoke to Lester on the ear piece but she didn't bother speaking up. She was even silent as she jumped back into the back seat. She was thankful they were too busy setting up the score to notice Mack being moody. Brandon, Michael and Lester spoke amongst themselves as Michael drove around the corner to where Lester was directing him.

Unfortunately for Mack though, Michael did notice her change in demeanour. Brandon and Lester were too busy preparing, but he stared at her in his rear view mirror. He knew he would have to have a talk with her later to see if she was okay.

Michael pulled up to a construction site behind the jewel store.

"Ah. If they're gutting the place, I might be able to get up on the roof. I'll need one of you to be the look out." Michael stated.

Mack then jerked her head towards Michael and she could see he was referring to her. She took one look at Lester and Brandon, who were looking straight back at her and made no effort to move. It was clear that Mack was the one chosen for the task.

Michael and Mack removed their seatbelts and got out of the car, strolling into the empty construction site.

Mack uneasily waited at the bottom of the stairs as Michael started climbing them.

"You alright?" Michael asked her.

"Yeah. I feel weird being so dressed up in a construction site, but when duty calls." Mack joked, flashing Michael a small smile.

"Hey, I could tell you weren't completely comfortable just before. We'll talk about it later." Michael said to her, before turning around and climbing the stairs to the top.

Mack heard Michael and Lester converse over the earpiece and discuss Michael's tasks in between Michael enquiring about his old crew. She took notice when she heard him discuss "him" – she could hear the distaste for this person both in Lester and Michael's voices. Michael had discussed briefly with Mack about the people involved in that fateful day in North Yankton. She could tell the person Michael was referring to was one of those men.

She had also been looking around closely, taking her role of lookout seriously. Luckily no one had approached them. No one had even looked in, which Mack was glad for, as she was dressed too formally to be on a construction site.

Not too long later Mack heard Michael descend down the construction site, and eventually saw him at the top of the staircase.

"All done?" Mack asked him.

"Yeah. Let's go, back into the car." Michael said to her, as they both got back into the car.

"Here, take your glasses back." Michael said to Lester as he handed the pair of glasses off his face. Mack didn't even bother saying anything as she took Michael's cue and handed back her pair as well.

"Let's go to the garment factory. I called ahead and told them to start planning. Brandon and I have already gotten into a few discussions." Lester mentioned to the group.

* * *

Lester, Michael, Brandon and Mackenzie all walked into Lester's office after an interesting car ride back. They had briefly discussed the heist on the car ride back, Michael and Mackenzie told Lester and Brandon the things they had seen. Brandon and Lester then began to discuss plan and crew arrangements.

Michael had started to begin to talk Lester into letting Franklin be involved. Lester wasn't impressed at first by stating he didn't 'work with amateurs' but eventually came around and said it was 'Michael's funeral'

But now they were all awkwardly standing in Lester's office with the plans laid out in front of them after Lester had set up the board.

"Nice to see the methods haven't changed." Michael stated to Lester.

"Nice to see I'm the only one who thinks this isn't outdated. He's been using this method since I met him, too." Brandon joined on.

Lester stayed silent as he pinned everything up, then he spoke up.

"All the crew, the roles. The prep work. Don't want to leave evidence behind on a hard drive." Lester stated as he took a big step back to look at his work.

The other three in the office fell silent as they had a quick look at what was on the board.

"Well, mapping out the options, and showing you all the angles, that's my area of professional expertise. But making decisions, that is your domain my friend." Lester said to Michael.

Mack almost made a motion to make an excuse on why she had to leave and to step out. She felt this was too private, as if she didn't belong there. Brandon shot her a look though and she stayed still. He wanted her there, and she knew she should stay.

She listened intently to Lester explaining the two options to Michael. Brandon chimed in here and there to give small tid bits of advice. One option was going in loud to intimidate the staff and customers into staying still and doing as they say, the other option was to be "smart" and to use knock out gas to make them all unconscious as the crew go in and out.

Before Michael even made a decision he made sure Lester agreed to Franklin being involved. When Lester confirmed this would happen, Michael then made his decision.

"I think we should go with the smart option." Michael decided.

Mack's phone went off as Michael and Lester were talking. She grabbed her phone out of her bag and smiled as she saw David had texted her. It was a semi-long text where he was telling her about his day and he sent her a picture message of some cute kittens that were present in the house of the person he was questioning.

Mack sent a text back lying that she had a boring day of study, and sent him back a picture of textbooks she had taken from her last semester: three taxation law textbooks that were as tall as her knees when stacked up from the floor.

Being proud that she had her detective boyfriend convinced she had been studying all day, she was smiling. She knew she should have been nervous, or feeling guilty. But now she had her bases covered she felt proud.

"I'll call you all when everything is ready. Brandon will need to pitch it to the guys, and then we can go." Lester stated, which made Mack quickly lock her phone and put it back into her bag.

"Whoa, what. My rep don't count for nothing no more?" Michael asked, sounding offended.

"You're a nobody in the underground world, De Santa. No one even knows who you are." Brandon stated loudly to Michael.

"You can all go now. I'll contact you when the time is right." Lester quickly stated cutting Michael off before he could start a big argument with Brandon. That's the last thing they all needed, a rift just before a big score.

Both Michael and Brandon agreed, as they stayed silent as they both swiftly left Lester's office and silently jogged down the staircase.

"Michael, can you take Mackenzie home? I'll need to begin preparing for this score." Brandon asked Michael.

Michael nearly spoke up out of his frustrations for Brandon's attitude and mentioned that he too had preparations but then he remembered a few things. He didn't want things to become like they were with T, when they'd argue before a bank robbery, sometimes with B getting involved and miss out on all of the possible cash grabs through the lack of teamwork due to the animosity between the trio.

Mainly though, it was because Brandon asked him to drive Mackenzie home. He wanted to clear the air with her about their mission before and what he had said about her. He also secretly enjoyed spending time with her, and was overjoyed he would be able to spend even more alone time with her.


	23. Chapter 23

**Sorry about this part. I'm extremely tired and just wanted to get this out ASAP so I can write the heist part next.**

* * *

"Sorry about Brandon's attitude. I'm not sure why he turned into a dick all of a sudden." Mack gushed as soon as they were in Michael's car on the way back to Rockford Hills.

She was feeling a little anxious being with Michael alone after Brandon's behaviour towards Michael earlier. She felt guilty for her brother's behavior and felt as though she owed Michael an apology. Mack realised she should quickly apologise to get it out of the way.

Michael on the other hand hadn't thought of associating Brandon's actions with his little sister. He had never thought much of Brandon and only invited him to events as Brandon was on good terms with Amanda and everyone else in his inner circle. Mackenzie on the other hand was someone whose company he enjoyed. Therefore even though they were related, he never linked his dislike of Brandon with Mack.

"Well he had a point. I am unknown in the Los Santos underworld. That's the way I like it. Unfortunately that has to change." Michael bitterly responded as he kept his eyes on the road.

"Yeah, that does suck..." Mack awkwardly trailed off. She didn't know how to properly comfort Michael. They had gone over this so many times she felt repeating her reassurances would just be redundant, so she decided to just keep it brief.

"So, back in the jewelry store..." Michael began.

Mack's heart began to race. She was afraid of what Michael was going to say. She had always been afraid of feedback in relation to her work. She understood the importance of constructive criticism but she still felt anxious when she knew what was coming.

"Yes?" Mack responded.

"I uh, well, you know what I said back there, I didn't actually mean, right?" Michael asked Mack.

Now it was Michael's turn to feel nervous. He didn't know how Mack was going to react and what to do if she did react badly.

This calmed Mack down. This was an easy conversation to have. She wasn't too fazed about this turn of conversation.

"Yeah, I know. We were playing characters, we weren't ourselves. What was said was about my character and not myself. I get it." Mack said to Michael with a smile.

Michael took a sideways look towards Mack. He wanted to see if her response was genuine or if she had a fake smile plastered on her face. He felt a huge sense of relief when he saw she looked fine.

"Good. Just so you know, I think very highly of you Mackenzie. You're a good friend for Tracey to have." Michael said.

He felt anxiety building inside as he slipped out information he didn't mean to say. He was grateful that Tracey was now hanging around someone sensible but he wanted that information to be relayed separately from the feelings he was developing for Mack. Gushing he "thinks highly" of her made Michael scared he gave away too much information.

Luckily for him Mack only gave a swift nod before shifting the conversation back to what they were discussing previously.

"As I've never been a side woman it was kind of interesting to see how the reactions to mistresses are. Even though the sales assistant wore a smile on her face for the sale, I could see in her body language she wasn't a fan. I'm not sure whether its paranoia or what but I swear everyone else in that store was judging me too." Mack stated to Michael.

"Are you okay?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I acknowledge I was playing a character, remember? I just think it was interesting, in a social experiment way." Mack grinned towards Michael.

Michael was beginning to feel uncomfortable with how the conversation was going. Mackenzie had played his secret lover and talking about it was making him slip information he didn't want publicly available, especially not to Mack. He decided it was in his best interests to change the topic.

"So... what are your plans for tonight?" Michael asked her.

"I'll be coming around to yours later. Tracey invited me around for a movie night." Mack responded.

"I know we've been spending a lot of time together," Michael joked "but I'll be out tonight. I need to set up this heist and grab a few things."

* * *

Usually Mackenzie was excited to see her boyfriend. Working across from each other made it really easy for them to see each other. It wasn't unusual for them to grab a quick breakfast at a nearby cafe, or to share their lunch breaks together. Mack was smitten with her boyfriend and held feelings of longing when she was away from him.

Today was different. Today was the first time she had plans to see him since she accompanied Brandon, Michael and Lester to case the jewel store. She had come up with a few excuses ('I have too much homework tonight, sorry', 'I can't do lunch today I have a team lunch') for the past few days but she knew if she prolonged seeing David any longer he would grow suspicious. Making a detective suspicious about her activities was the last thing she needed, even if he was just suspicious about their relationship and why she was avoiding him.

She felt silly for feeling this way. She assured both Brandon and Lester she would be fine to partake in these schemes. At the time she truly felt capable too. But as soon as David called her the same night after the setup, she felt huge amounts of guilt. She felt guilty that his career could be on the line if it were ever revealed he was seeing a criminal. She also felt guilty for her fellow team members, she was dating a cop. That could be bad luck.

The only person she could talk to about this was Franklin. She knew if she mentioned anything about this to Brandon he would second guess her ability to partake in the heist. He would either feel like she would mess up the operation, or he would feel heavily guilty about getting his younger sister involved and would take her off the task. Saying anything to Michael was off the table as well. Not only was Mackenzie scared he would react similar to her brother, she wasn't that close with him. She liked his company but wasn't sure if he felt mutually, she was scared he only saw her as his daughter's goofy friend, and not as a peer or an equal.

But Franklin, Franklin was an equal to her. He was in the exact same boat. He had never rolled with this crew before and he had to prove himself to them. This was the big league, no more small petty jobs with the Chamberlain Hills families or shitty repo jobs for Simeon. These were real criminals with real opportunities and this was his one shot to make something of himself.

They had met up a few times at both Cluckin' Bell and Burger Shot to catch up and to discuss the nerves they were hiding from everyone else. The time that Mack was supposed to be spending with David was spent with Franklin instead.

Right now Mack was nervously tapping her fingers on the table and fiddling with the necklace she always wore, a white gold heart pendent given to her a long time ago by her ex-boyfriend, Ben. She was anxiously waiting for David to join her at the cafe on their agreed lunch breaks.

David entered the cafe and scanned the tables until his eyes landed on the one his girlfriend was at. Her nervous tendencies hadn't gone unnoticed by him and he frowned. Luckily for Mack he had no reason to be suspicious she was engaging in illegal activities. Instead the poor guy was worried his girlfriend wasn't interested in him anymore and he was going to use this lunch to win her back.

"Hey, you." David smiled at Mack as he smoothly slid into the seat opposite of her.

"Hi." Mack smiled a little too brightly before going back to perusing the menu without offering any more attention to her boyfriend.

He sighed. He was going to not say anything directly, at least not immediately. But after she had been ignoring him and now this, he felt he had to say something.

"Have I done something wrong?" David asked Mackenzie and it forced her to jerk up from the menu to face him.

"Huh?" Mack responded, feeling panic rise in her chest. She had no idea what David was thinking and thus had no idea how to respond to his prompts.

"You've been avoiding me. You're acting strange now. Have I done something to upset you? I want to know." David began sternly, but then his voice wavered by the end.

Mack blinked awkwardly. She didn't know what to say. She had to say something quickly, not only so she didn't look suspicious but she was feeling really badly for her boyfriend. He was the last person she wanted to upset.

"No. You haven't. I've just gone back to uni, and, yeah…" Mack spluttered out, her mouth talking faster than her brain.

David cocked an eyebrow and shook his head. He wasn't sure where Mackenzie was going with this but he wasn't following.

"It's this one subject, statistics. I really struggle with it. I find it really hard. I've already failed it once, if I fail it again the university has grounds to kick me out. I'm really stressed. I'm sorry its affected our relationship, but that's why I've been distant. I'm really sorry." Mack blurted out.

It was David's turn to blink in disbelief. He saw his girlfriend's pretty face make a wide eyed puppy dog face and he couldn't help but to feel bad. This was obviously tearing her up inside and he wanted to make it all better.

"Awwwww! I'm really sorry to bring it up, and to make this about me." David responded.

Mack shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Now she secretly felt worse. David's was still upset but now he felt bad for his reaction, and not for something he had done. She had also lied. It was true, she found stats hard and if she failed last semester it would have been the second time and she faced expulsion due to university policy. But luckily she had scraped through and she never had to take it again.

Now she just had to remember to keep up the façade and make David think she was taking it this semester.


	24. Chapter 24

**Yo, sorry for the unexpected hiatus. I can't say much because the police are still investigating but someone tried to frame me for the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of goods. The police cleared me as a suspect pretty quickly but yeah, didn't really feel like writing about a heist after that. But I'm back with lots of inspiration at least!**

* * *

Mackenzie felt awkward as the taxi pulled up to the curb, not too far from the Darnell Bros factory that Lester owned. It was too risky for her to travel with either Franklin or Michael, it was best they made their way there alone. It was also too risky for her to go in her Blista, so she caught a cab.

It wasn't just any cab. Most cabs had continuous video recording inside for the driver's safety. Mack knew this one didn't, at least not when she was around. A long time ago when Brandon lived with her in the Rockford Hills house before he was married, they met this cab driver on a drunken night out. Brandon pretended he was pimping his sister out ('Oh, she loves Mexicans. She'll give you a blow job for sure!') to receive a free ride. It sounded messed up, but it worked. They got that ride for free and the cab driver gave them his business card. Mack certainly did not follow through with what Brandon told the driver, but it worked. The driver also made the remark he modified the cameras to show old footage when pretty ladies were in his cab on the off chance he got some action.

This is something Mackenzie remembered so she purposely called this cab driver for a ride. She was alone as Brandon apparently did not get involved with the actual heists at all. She knew it was safer to get dropped off a few properties down from the factory, just in case.

"So, what do I get for the ride?" The cab driver asked.

"Well, you're getting paid." Mack stated, trying to sound polite to not anger the driver or raise suspicion, but she was getting annoyed at his forward behaviour.

"What am I getting paid in?" The driver asked and Mack tried to not burst out laughing at his pathetic way of flirting with her.

"I'm sorry, I have a boyfriend who's also a LSPD police member who wouldn't be happy a cab driver is trying to solicit his girlfriend," Mack name dropped to the driver who immediately began retreating before she continued to keep him happy "However, what's a kiss on the cheek for a friend?"

The cab driver smiled and pointed to his cheek, which Mack leaned over from the back and attempted to kiss but he cheekily moved so that she kissed his lips. He didn't open his mouth luckily, but he held her there for a few extra moments until Mack quickly retreated and threw a few bills at him.

She didn't even bother to say goodbye as she jumped out, and quickly stalked to the factory when the driver quickly sped off and couldn't see her.

She made her way into the factory and stormed up the stairs, taking a quick look around and seeing no one present. She saw the door to Lester's office open and she heard voices too. This is where they were all meeting.

"Fucking Mexican taxi driver sleazes!" Mack ranted as she loudly stepped into the office but froze when she saw many faces looking straight back at her. She gulped, and sulked into a corner as embarrassment took over. She wasn't expecting so many people to be meeting them there.

"Yes, well, now that our last crew member is here, we should begin." Lester said, sounding very unamused with Mackenzie's opening outburst.

The room went silent as Michael jumped up and began pacing the room. He was curious about what Mackenzie was referring to but immediately forgot as he faced his crew members. Toh was a family man like him, who was apparently a good member. McReary was an ex-runner for groups in Liberty City according to Lester, and he had run into him holding up a grocery store not too long ago and suggested McReary to Lester himself. Rickie, the only one besides the newly arrived Mack to not be in the exterminator uniform, was that loser he had met at LifeInvader who was apparently good and also cheap. Then he also had Franklin, Mackenzie and Lester to address. This was it. This was his re-entry into the world he fought so hard to leave.

"Now, we all know why we're here," Michael began, before continuing with his pep talk to the group "We've got a score to take. The plan, is simple. Elegant. Listen to Lester. Pay attention to the information he gives you and we'll all make a buck. Things go bad, you know the drill. This wasn't organised. We don't know each other. We got caught up in a robbery and acted in self-defence. It's not going to be an issue because everything is going to go just fine."

Mack knew that panic was supposed to be rising right now as Lester began speaking about the alarm system. But she felt strangely calm. This may have been calm before the storm but she had spent the past week mentally preparing herself for what was about to come. Therefore Michael's pep talk had the effect it was supposed to have on her. It kept her calm.

"…you listen to Michael, he makes the call." Lester finished, and Mack was glad she tuned in at that point to make a mental note of what Lester had just said.

Michael finished explaining the plans, the gas went down into the air conditioning system to pump through the store, the occupants get knocked out and they take their time inside, unless trouble strikes and then they were to 'move quickly and with force' – not that this was relevant to Mackenzie. She was playing the role of an extra eye and ear for each task. She was to oversee the other functions as a fresh pair of eyes. Like a test reader.

According to Lester her main work would begin after they receive the take. Like Brandon would come to check out the score in order to prepare himself for the work afterwards, Mack was attending the score as a survey for the work that went down afterwards.

"Questions? No." Michael quickly asked gruffly, glossing over Rickie as he was about to speak up.

"Let's go!" Michael declared, and the entire team all got up to follow Michael out.

Mackenzie stayed quiet. Her rant had long been forgotten by everyone else due to the realisation hitting of what was about to go down. She still felt embarrassed and stayed meek and quiet as she followed behind everyone else.

"Frank, you're with me. Rickie, Little L, you're in the truck with the bikes. Toh, McReary, take the van. See you in Little Portola people," Michael called out as he went down the stairs and out the door. "Initials only from here on out"

"Little L, is that me?" Mack asked Lester as she dawdled behind everyone.

"Yes. We use initials only during heists to keep our names protected. You can't use M because that's Michael's, so because you're Brandon's little sister, Little Lancaster it is. Here, you'll need this too. It's an ear piece. Much safer and convenient than using cell phones. Now get out of here." Lester said as he passed the ear piece to Mack.

Mack smirked, knowing this was the closest thing to words from encouragement she was going to get from Lester. She hurriedly put the ear piece on as she exited the factory. Michael and Franklin were already speeding off in their car, and everyone was positioned at the van.

"So uh, what's the go? It seems I missed the logistics of who goes in what vehicle." Mack nervously stated as she rubbed her neck. She felt really awkward standing in front of three men admitting this.

"Maybe you should sit this one out if you're not prepared. There's a lot on the line, kid." Toh spat out.

"Look, I'm sorry. I really am. I purposely chose a cab driver who doesn't have his cab video taped, but he wouldn't let me out and held me hostage until I kissed him!" Mack exaggerated as she began to feel flusterd.

"It's okay. You did the right thing. We better go now, there's no time for fellow crew members to argue." McReary stated, giving Mack a pat on the shoulder as he jumped into the driver's seat of the van.

Toh remained silent but shook his head and got into the passenger side.

"Jokes on them, we don't have proper instructions anyway. Lester said he would tell us when we get into our truck." Rickie joked as he began walking behind the building.

Mack followed him and they both landed in front of a big black van. Rickie grinned as he began swinging the keys around his hands.

"You don't mind if I drive do ya bro? Errr, sis. Sis sounds wrong. But, can I drive?" Rickie asked as he kept his grin strong.

"Please do. I drive a Blista, I'm not used to driving heavy duty vehicles." Mack nervously smiled as she made her way to the passenger side.

They got into the truck and Rickie began to obnoxiously change the radio. He jumped in fright when Lester's voice came over the earpieces.

"Okay, R and Little L. Your instructions are easy. Make your way over to the jewel store and park around the corner. If you're driving R you will need to switch seats when you get there so you can keep hacking as Little L brings the truck over for the crew members when they come out." Lester explained to them.

"Alright. Let's go." Mack grinned to Rickie as they both buckled up in sync.

* * *

Mack's enthusiasm quickly wore off by the time her and Rickie parked. All he would do is talk about inane pointless stuff that made Mackenzie want to bang her head against the window.

"and then I air guitared that bro so hard he was shocked into submission!" Rickie remarked as he set up the computer that Lester supplied him with and clicked the EyeFind icon.

"Wait! Don't do that! You need to use tor first to hide the IP address." Mack quickly shouted.

Rickie only sent Mack a sly smile and said he was just testing her as he did exactly as she said. She didn't bother responding as she got out of the car to switch seats so she could drive around the corner when prompted.

Before getting back into the car she leaned against the back and crossed her arms as she let out a big sigh as she looked upwards. It was now she was beginning to feel nervous and frustrated. She felt too much responsibility was on Rickie and it was her job to keep him in line. It was a big job. She was just excited that their part in the heist was over soon.

It was just as Mack got back into the truck that Michael's voice came over the ear piece.

"Alright, F is about to get into position and throw in the gas. Is everyone ready to move?" Michael asked.

The two gun men confirmed with Michael, as did Rickie who responded with an annoying "sure am, bro"

"The equipment is ready to be bought around upon cue!" Mack cheerfully stated.

In the quiet few moments that followed, Mack turned to Rickie and presented him with a USB drive.

"Plug this into your computer. It's a back up plan should you not be able to hack into the Vangelico system properly. It's not guaranteed to work, but it's better than nothing." Mack said to Rickie.

He only looked at her and sneered.

"Hey, you do your job and I'll do mine. I'm the only one besides that meth addict McReary who didn't question your useless role. Remember that." Rickie snarled at Mack.

"Initials only! We can hear you." Michael snapped at the two.

"Besides, it's a former coke addiction, not meth. Something you clearly couldn't afford." Packie grinned into his ear piece.

"While you fools were in fighting I got the gas in! Get ready to move!" Franklin exclaimed.

Everyone became silent after this. Rickie and Mackenzie weren't in sight of the store and couldn't see in. They were waiting for the gun men to storm in and on cue Rickie would hack in and Mack would drive the bikes around.

Then, it happened. Stuff got real.

"Get in there R!" Michael screamed over the ear piece.

Rickie only sent a nod as he swiftly bought up Vangelico's backdoor log in system. He typed in the log in (admin ) and cockily told Mack he had previously socially engineered the password a few days ago.

However the log in was unsuccessful. He tried two more times, still unsuccessful.

"What the fuck is the hold up? The gas has worked and they're all knocked out. We need to move now." Michael growled.

"I-I-I don't know. This isn't working. It was a few days ago." Rickie stammered out, causing everyone to swear over the ear pieces.

"I've got a backup plan. I can't promise it will work but I came prepared. Hang on." Mack said as she swiftly grabbed the laptop and inserted her USB drive.

She clicked on the program she intended to run and let it boot up and start. Entering the email that Rickie tried on the log in page she let the program run.

"It's working! At a thousand times a second their server is being flooded with 'forgotten password' requests - oh the irony, eh R? This causes the system to freeze and stops the alarms going off. Anyway it can only sustain for a short while before the system reboots to correct itself. I say you have 50 seconds, get your asses in." Mackenzie announced over the speaker.

No one even bothered to respond (Mack got the impression no one even understood her except for the fact she was saving them) as she heard loud noises over the piece. They had entered and it was her cue to bring the truck around. She dumped the laptop back into Rickie's lap as she got ready to move.

"Show off." Rickie sulked as Mack got the engine roaring and moved quickly around the corner outside to where Franklin was waiting for them.

He gave Mack a fist bump through the window and then moved to the back where he began unloading the bikes.

"Need any help?" Mack called out, as she rolled down the windows.

"Nah, nearly got them. I'd suggest you move across though. M is taking the wheel of the truck when they come out." Franklin responded.

Mack moved across and tried her hardest to not touch Rickie who was still sulking about his stuff up. Mack watched Franklin through the driver's side mirror. He jumped on the last bike in anticipation of the other's finishing inside.

Then, the alarms went off.

It all happened fast. Michael came out and threatened the guard out the front. He didn't even mean to, but an old feeling was reawakened inside him during this raid. He couldn't help it. He had to say it.

"You forget a thousand things every day, pal. Make sure this is one of 'em." Michael proudly threatened, before running off to the truck and getting into the drivers seat.

His entrance caused Mack to shift over uncomfortably. Although the truck was a bench seat it only really had room for two people, so she was awkwardly seated in the middle. When Michael was seated she moved closer to him, as she preferred to be touching him more than the loser on her right.

"You!" Michael shouted loudly upon seeing Rickie "I'll be dealing with you later."

"Was that quote a Soloman quote? Arthur's Penny Sanatorium isn't it?" Mack asked Michael quietly.

Michael looked over at Mackenzie and realised how close she was to him. She was almost sitting on him, and he felt her breath on him when she turned to ask him a question. He could even smell her faint perfume, a very sweet scent.

He growled that he needed to concentrate as the truck went silent. Rickie was sulking still about what happened, but Mack was stunned. She was scared she had done something wrong by Michael's reaction, or had angered him.

Michael was angry at Rickie but certainly not Mack. He was thrilled with her efforts. He wasn't thrilled at his small and inappropriate crush on her and wanted to ignore her for the time being. He couldn't get distracted by how close she was. He was a professional.

The entire truck had an uneasy feeling as Michael drove to the drains. Both Mackenzie and Rickie didn't even know their destination. Mack certainly wasn't going to speak up.

Eventually Michael plowed into the drains. The three on the bikes appeared, and many more cops arrived on the scene to swipe at the bike riders.

"Wow bro. This shit is intense!" Rickie said in amazement which caused Michael to growl. He didn't want to hear that kid's voice right now. Mack still stayed silent but watched in wonder.

As each police car began trying to hit the bike riders, Michael did the same to the police cars. When he would swipe out all of them it would go quiet for a few moments and then more would arrive.

This happened for a short while until they heard a loud speaker on one of the cars speak to the others.

"Abort! Abort! We have orders to call off the chase!"

They had actually done it. They had all successfully pulled off the Jewel Store Heist.


	25. Chapter 25

**Thanks so much for the reviews! So glad the Jewel Store Heist is wrapped up so we can finally get onto Trevor! Not gonna lie, he's going to shake things up (as Trevor does) and it's going to be awesome.**

* * *

Once the cops had called off their pursuit Michael could stop the truck to let the bike riders inside the truck successfully. The second they loaded themselves in and he got the backdoor up again, Michael was able to take off into the correct direction he needed to go.

"Lester's waiting for us at the lockup." Michael stated.

The rest of the crew remained silent as Michael drove on. It was really loud in the back so the bike riders weren't sure if they'd be able to be heard on the ear pieces. Rickie was sulking about being shown up by a girl. Mackenzie was still frightened she had done something wrong to upset Michael based on how he was treating her. Michael had too many emotions going through his mind to speak up.

He was ecstatic that they were getting away with this and the Mexican crazy would be off his back. He was so angry at Rickie for nearly screwing up the whole operation. He was also fighting the crazy urges stirring deep inside him every time the car jerked and Mack's skin touched his, or when he took a breath and could smell her sweet perfume.

"Aw, fuck, man, I thought I was goin' be stuck to that bike." Franklin eventually exclaimed over the ear piece from the back of the vehicle.

"Yeah I thought you were going to be stuck under a cop car." Michael responded, happy that conversation was flowing as he turned a corner roughly and had Mackenzie sprawl all over him.

"There gotta be more dudes waiting round that way. We did not just get away with that shit, did we?" Franklin asked the group.

"We did. There's laws in place that force cops to call off pursuits if they think it's going to be dangerous to both the cops and the public due to idiots that cause the danger." Mackenzie stated, joining the conversation.

"You mean like the idiots who rob jewel stores and wipe out people who get in their way." Michael snickered, causing Mack to fall silent and not involve herself any further in the conversation as she felt silly for entering. Michael sighed as he felt bad he made her feel uncomfortable, and sent her a wink to ease her.

Luckily for her the crew ignored Michael's sarcastic comment and began cheering, excited that they had pulled off exactly what they had intended with no repercussions. Michael was right in his pep-talk. It went perfectly, and they all managed to make some money out of the day's events.

Michael parked the truck at the designated stop and got out. Mack and Rickie waited a few moments to see if this was where they were stopping and when it seemed all clear, they both jumped out of the passenger side door.

"Alright people. We need to split up. They're going to be looking for a crew." Michael announced, once the entire group had clambered out of the truck and gotten together, in front of Lester.

"I'll wire your cuts when the rocks have been sold." Lester said to the group.

"That shit was crazy, dog. So what now?" Franklin asked.

"We get out of here. Keep our heads down" Lester responded.

Michael turned to face Franklin, smiling wildly as he put a hand on Franklin's shoulder.

"Hey, you did good, kid. What I tell you Lester, huh?" Michael grinned towards his team mate.

"He was a good pick. I'll give you that. I'm mostly impressed with Little L though, she saved the day, even though it wasn't her area of expertise. I'm curious to see how well she goes when we figure out some creative accounting with her." Lester responded, using her slightly degrading heist name on purpose.

"Alright, look. Everybody take off." Michael quickly remarked, not even bothering to add onto Lester's praise for Mackenzie, causing Mack to shuffle uncomfortably, really feeling she had done something to upset Michael.

Everybody began to scatter, but two figures were stopped by Michael calling out to them.

"Hey Franklin, Mack." Michael called out.

Mack turned around, a quizzical look on her face as she wondered why Michael was calling out to her, as he had been odd to her the entire heist.

"Listen. Lester and I got some things we gotta clean up. I want both of you to stop by the house a little later on, we'll all celebrate, alright?" Michael asked them both.

"Alright." Franklin said to Michael, giving him a fist bump as he headed off.

"So…you don't hate me?" Mack awkwardly asked, feeling too uncomfortable to not say something. She was going to wait until later, but her discomfort was making her want to burst and she accidentally slipped out her question.

"God no. Look, don't worry about it all kid. You did good. You better get out of here, we'll talk later." Michael said to Mack, putting an arm on her shoulder before dragging it off her when he realised that was a little weird to be doing to a female.

"Kay, thanks." Mack smiled brightly, before turning around to see one of the guys from the heist in front of her, Packie McReary she remembered his name from the set up, and remembered his name being dropped at the beginning.

"Brandon wants me to take you home. He asked a while ago." Packie stated gruffly to the younger girl.

She turned around to see Michael and Lester's reaction. Lester looked unemotional, as if Brandon's requests either weren't a surprise or he didn't really care. But Michael. Michael knew he cared more than he should. He had been trying not to notice or care, but he had seen the way McReary had been looking at Mack during the pre-heist pep talk. He had been staring at her. Michael had followed McReary's eyes to the shapely parts of Mack's body. The parts he liked to look at.

Mack was completely unaware of Michael's inappropriate rising feelings for her, but even she could see the fire in his eyes as he watched Packie stand in front of Mack. She chose to remain as oblivious as possible and just shrugged and gave him a weak smile as she waved goodbye.

She turned away and Packie grinned towards her as he put an arm around her shoulder to lead her away. Mack only sent him a nervous smile.

"So, I didn't really come prepared as I didn't know where we would end up. It's a bad idea to get a cab after what went down. Mind if I grab something off the street? I'll grab a piece of shit car that won't be missed." Packie asked Mack.

Mack only shook her head. She now felt completely broken in to a life of crime. A few weeks ago she would have been horrified to be in company of someone who was going to steal a car. But after what they had just pulled off, this was nothing.

The two came across a rusted up car that had a few parking fines on the windshield. It was clearly an abandoned car.

"I'll be impressed if you can get that thing to even start." Mack remarked after Packie broke a window with a rock and began to attempt to hot wire it.

He grunted as a response in concentration, but less than a minute later the car revved up in action and left Packie grinning.

"Liberty City boys do it best," He teased before getting up and opening the passenger side door "Your chariot awaits."

"Usually when the guy opens a car door it means either the car or the girl is new. In this situation I don't know what to think." Mack snorted as she got in the car.

Mack's eyes widened as she realised what her and Packie were doing. They were flirting. Mack was a fairly naive and innocent girl with strong morals. She wasn't a cheater and she was smitted with David. She however was a serial flirter. She would never go further than harmless flirting, but she did get a kick out of it. Most people in relationships still flirt with the opposite sex. Mack realised David probably did. He was a handsome detective, he was sure some women threw themselves at him for that fact, and as a detective even as a male he most likely had to charm his way into people's lives to get some information.

Therefore Mack smiled and eased a little as she didn't feel bad for lightly flirting with Packie.

"So um, you know Brandon?" Mack asked him nervously as she now felt a bit socially awkward in the presence of a stranger.

"Yeah, great guy." Packie responded.

"You were supposed to elaborate how." Mack teased, poking her tongue out at him.

"I know. I just wanted to make you squirm," Packie responded, but then continued "I used to know him a long time ago in the late 90s early 2000s in Liberty City. He used to visit a lot."

"Yeah, I remember. I never saw Brandon much when we were young. He'd spend weeks at a time in Liberty City. He had a girlfriend and friends there and stuff. I take it that was you and your crew?" Mack stated.

"Sure was. That was the height of the McReary family. The golden era. Brandon was this player we met at a party who had chicks left, right and centre. We got drinking with him and well, we became friends." Packie explained.

"Did you guys stay in touch after he stopped going as much?" Mack asked curiously.

"Kind of. I think we're the ones who introduced Brandon to a life of crime. He was always charismatic but he learned through us how to apply it to the criminal world and how to make connections. But once things fizzled out in Liberty City he took what he knew back to Los Santos and never looked back." Packie explained, keeping his eyes on the road.

"That doesn't answer my question, but I'll take it as a no." Mack mumbled.

"Well, yes and no. We still exchanged emails once in a while but we never caught up. It's very easy to lose touch in the criminal world. I had this one guy, Niko Bellic, he was like a brother to me. Even we lost touch. It happens." Packie shrugged.

Mack only sent a nod. Losing touch with people. It hit too close to home for her. In her mid to late teens she was popular and had friends everywhere. But through petty girl fights and simply just losing touch she was now alone with only a few friends. She knew what losing touch meant and she knew it well.

"Wasn't it Michael who stumbled across you at a store hold up? Was it Michael or Brandon who asked you to be involved in the heist?" Mack asked Packie curiously.

"Ah yes. The thing I've noticed about Los Santos is that it's much smaller and much easier to come across people you know, compared to Liberty City." Packie explained.

Mack nodded in agreement. He was right. She met Franklin, a guy from Chamberlain Hills in a club. A few weeks later she stumbled across the same guy in Rockford Hills at a random rich white man's party. Packie had a point.

"Michael was the one who suggested me to Lester, but as Brandon was a former close friend, I was probably the easiest person who Brandon has ever had to recruit. He also asked me to look after you in this heist." Packie stated.

"Oh, okay." Mack responded to show she was still listening.

"Hey, what's up with that De Santa guy anyway?" Packie asked Mack as he changed the subject on a whim.

"What do you mean?" Mack stiffly asked. She had been anxious that Michael was acting weird to her, and now that another person was mentioning this, it was confirmed that Michael wasn't himself towards her.

"You deserved a lot more praise than what he gave you. You saved all of our asses. He also acted really fucking weird to me when I said I was taking you home. Does he not like you?" Packie asked Mack.

"I dunno. His daughter is my friend, so I'm guessing it's a weird situation for him to be in. He does this stuff for his family but then his daughter's friend is involved. It would be a strange and almost unsettling feeling that someone involved is directly linked to his family." Mack explained.

She then stopped and smiled as a huge load was lifted off her shoulders. What she had stated was starting to sink in. Michael didn't hate her, she hadn't done anything wrong. Clearly it was overwhelming to him that Tracey was Mack's friend, yet Mack was running with the crew. This must have been what Michael was acting strangely about.

"Fair enough." Packie shrugged.

* * *

 **I usually don't leave authors notes at the bottom but I just wanted to say something before I lose readers. Packie isn't going to be a love interest. I know how annoying it is in stories when everyone falls in love with the main character. This isn't that. He's going to play his part and have a use, but not as a love interest.**


	26. Chapter 26

**You're all going to hate me at the end considering I promised this was Trevor's debut. Hey, at least I didn't lie.**

* * *

Mackenzie felt a little easier as the afternoon went on. She did receive a text from David apologising profusely about having to cancel their plans as "something came up" which made Mack feel a little strange but she wasn't scared, even though she knew she should be. She was more anxious of seeing Michael later and finding out whether he would still act weird towards her or not.

In the evening Franklin turned up at her house to drive her to Michael's place.

"I can tell my roommate, Callum, is judging me so hard right now on the fact I'm getting into a car that's not my boyfriend's." Mack said to Franklin once she got into the car.

"Aw man, fuck him. We're taking care of business." Franklin remarked.

As the drive from Mack's modest house to Michael's mansion was fairly short, the two barely had time to converse. In no time at all the two landed on Michael's door step.

Mack went to ring the doorbell but Franklin just walked in. Mack decided to just follow behind Franklin.

"Ho, hey! There you both are!" Michael joyfully remarked as he approached the duo who just entered his house.

"What's crackin'?" Franklin asked Michael, whilst Mack only gave a shy smile and wave.

"So, we all good?" Michael asked them both, but flickered his green eyes onto Mack and she knew the question was mainly directed at her.

She smiled as she let her entire body relax. She felt her theory she explained earlier to Packie was most likely correct but she was happier that Michael was no longer acting strange towards her. That's all she cared about.

"Hell yeah, we all good. We did it." Franklin proudly stated.

"Adrenaline kick for days." Mack smiled.

"Yeah, you fuckin' A-right we did." Michael celebrated, smiling wildly.

Michael already had alcohol ready so the celebrations could begin as soon as both Franklin and Mack arrived. He went and bought some nice Scotch now he knew the cash flow would be coming in - he remembered once that Mack said she was a huge fan, and Michael assumed Franklin wouldn't be opposed.

He poured each of them a glass and they accepted.

"So, here's the shot. Lester's offloading the gems, he knows a guy who can get us fifty cents on the dollar. Hell, we might actually have a little spending money left after we pay off that psychotic Mexican motherfucker." Michael explained to them.

"Apparently Lester wants me to meet him tomorrow to begin this dodgy accounting thing. This is why I was mainly involved in the heist, for the book keeping afterwards." Mack stated to the group.

"But I'm glad you were at the mission, there's no way we could have done anything without your back up plan. You came prepared and it was very much appreciated." Michael praised.

Mack beamed. That was what she was after, some kind words from Michael.

"Cheers!" Michael exclaimed and all three clinked their glasses before taking generous swigs.

"So that's so, right?" Franklin asked.

"I hope so." Michael answered.

"The whole job." An unknown male said as he entered the room.

Mack and Franklin turned behind to see a middle aged man they had never seen before. He seemed to be aging worse than Michael. His hair was thinning, his eyes were sunken in and he had more wrinkles than Michael.

Mack's eyes darted between Franklin and Michael as she wanted to know what was going on, and who this man was. Franklin however was just as much in the dark as Mack, and stared down this intruder.

"Everything about it. Anyone who knows your file... What is wrong with you?" The unknown male said as he approached Michael.

"Davey! Long time no see." Michael joyfully greeted the man.

Michael's greeting had a faux twist to it, but at the same time he was genuinely happy. Not only had they pulled off the heist and spared his life once they paid off the Mexican crazy man, Michael knew this was the most alive he had felt in a long time. He was able to forget the troubles with his marriage, and his ungrateful children. He was even able to forget his stupid crush on the girl in front of him. For the first time in nearly ten years he felt like he was himself, and didn't care that Dave Norton was here to take it away from him.

"And what about Trevor? If that fruitcake realizes, no, no, finds out you're alive, you are D-O-N-E fucked!" Dave loudly stated, very roughly emphasising the end of his sentence.

Mack flinched and was quivering a little at the intruder as she grew scared, and Franklin was trying to suppress a growl as he didn't like this person's attitude.

Michael sensed both Franklin's animosity and Mack's fear and decided to keep it calm to settle them both. He felt calm anyway, things were going to be fine.

"Don't worry about Trevor. Trevor's dead. He's gotta be. Besides, I didn't have nothin' to do with it. Whatever the hell it is you're talkin' about." Michael calmly stated.

Michael's calm demeanor was trickling onto Mack (or the scotch was taking effect) as she relaxed her shoulders and beamed. Whatever was going on, Michael could clearly handle it. Franklin was still annoyed but chose to stay silent, he knew it was the best thing for him to do for the moment.

"Really?" Dave said sarcastically as he picked up the television remote and changed the channel to a news report.

All four in the room watched on. It was a television story about the robbery and they were interviewing the person who asked Franklin to move the bikes.

Michael snatched the remote off Dave and turned off the television hastily.

"I don't know anything about that." Michael lied.

Little did anyone know that a few hundred miles away in Sandy Shores, Trevor Phillips was watching, and was about to see a ghost. Nobody in that room knew just how much their lives were about to change.

* * *

Mack was sitting in class and was chewing on her pen as she listened to her professor explain economics.

"That recent jewel store robbery is an example of economic theory at work. Because some jewels have been taken off the mainstream market and into the black market, supply has decreased. Thus, demand outweighs supply and prices increase." The professor explained.

Mack grinned widely and got her phone out to text Franklin about this. She couldn't high five anyone in the room, so texting Franklin to say they were used as an example in her university course was the next best thing.

Of course that university course had helped them all. The day after Michael kicked Dave Norton out of his house after strongly denying any involvement, Mack had driven over to Lester's and had met with his contact. Mack was expecting a sleazy criminal with greasy hair and a scar on his face but was instead met with a very nice gay man whom she got along with very well.

All three of them developed plans on how to successfully move the stolen jewels and turn them into cash, and how to do the books to launder the dirty money and make it clean. It involved a lot of complicated factors such as registering a charity and applying for tax breaks. By the end both the contact and Lester were extremely happy with Mackenzie's involvement and her knowledge of creative accounting.

As Mack went to text Franklin her phone went off. The caller ID was Tracey.

She didn't bother to look at anyone else's reaction as she raced outside to take the call. She had no idea why Tracey would be calling her right now.

"Oh my god! Guess what?!" Tracey asked Mack in an excited manner, not even waiting for Mack to speak as she answered.

"What?" Mack asked curiously.

"Ok, sooooooo. I've been on the waiting list to audition for Fame or Shame for like, ever. I got a call from the producer today. Apparently some kid who could do some weird thing with his face had to drop out because his parents got arrested for child abuse so there was a free spot!" Tracey explained in a very excited manner.

Mack took a few moments to process what Tracey was saying. She decided to ignore the part about the child and not ask any questions.

"So, when do you audition?" Mack asked her.

"This afternoon! The best part is you're coming with me. Apparently Lazlow himself said I could bring a friend for support as long as they're hot. So you should totes go home ASAP do your hair and makeup and then I'll come pick you up." Tracey responded.

Mack looked into the lecture theatre at the sea of bored students. It wasn't unusual for Mack to skip class, she always seemed to catch up. Tracey obviously really wanted her there for support and Mack thought it could be a fun experience to see.

"Alright. I'm at university at the moment but I'll go home right now and get ready." Mack stated, which caused Tracey to let out a loud squeal of happiness.

"Okay. Let me know when you're looking smokin' and I'll come pick you up. Yay!" Tracey exclaimed in a very excited manner

* * *

"De Santa, you're up." A producer with a headset exclaimed as she approached both Tracey and Mackenzie.

They were both seated outside the studio in the chairs directly next to the studio doors. They had been waiting for a while now and Tracey was growing anxious.

Mack on the other hand was enjoying her time at the Fame or Shame auditions. They had a television opposite their seats so she could see what was going on inside the studio. She was also able to see the things they don't feature on the show, such as the aftermath of people who get rejected. Mack never thought she'd ever admit it, but she was having a good time.

"Fucking hacks! You don't appreciate good music anyway." A hipster with a guitar slung over his shoulder yelled as he stormed out of the studio.

Everyone around turned to look at his outburst, and he smashed his guitar onto the ground out of anger (or for attention).

Tracey shot out of her chair and pranced into the studio, whilst Mack stepped over the hipster who was now sobbing over his broken guitar and exclaiming his "career was over".

By the time Mack trailed Tracey into the studio, Tracey was nervous again. She was fidgeting with the very short hem on her skirt and giggling nervously. She was instructed to be on the left side of the room whilst Mack was barked at by the producer to supervise on the right, away from the cameras.

Mack looked around as she took in the atmosphere. The studio looked a lot smaller than it appeared on television, and it seemed a lot more built up. On television the judges looked care free and relaxed, but Mack could tell they clearly didn't want to be there and looked stressed.

Her eyes landed on Lazlow. She always thought he was a hack and read many unflattering stories on the internet, and the theory held true. She could see the desperation in his eyes and he looked so much older in person.

There was commotion from outside and Mack broke her gaze from judging Lazlow onto the door that she and Tracey had entered previously. Mack kept her eyes hearing the thudding that was growing louder every second. She was hoping for some juicy drama, maybe that hipster guy would burst in and ironically complain that mainstream people just don't understand him.

Mack's predictions were wrong but she was certainly about to witness some drama.

Michael has burst through the front door, in tow with a man that Mack thought quite frightening. Mack braced herself, she knew a storm was coming.


	27. Chapter 27

**Yay, we're finally getting to the good parts of this story.**

* * *

Lazlow began talking to the camera and introducing Tracey. Mack wasn't even looking at this point, she was too busy watching the two who entered. Michael was looking angry and Mack didn't blame him. Tracey's outfit was quite questionable, especially as something going on live television. Mack would never say anything to her friend as it wasn't her place, but Mack even thought this was a bad idea. What if down the line Tracey actually wanted a career? This wasn't the image you'd want floating around in an EyeFind search of yourself.

Mack was also intrigued about the second male who appeared alongside Michael, but decided to keep a distance as he looked quite mean. Blood shot eyes, signs of meth use as his face was scabby, dirty and stained clothes. Mack was a little frightened by his appearance, but was also judging his character a little based on his appearance. She didn't like people like him. They didn't contribute to society, only took from it.

Luckily for her, the two intruders barely acknowledged her existence. The scary guy didn't even notice Mack as he watched on, whilst Michael only gave her a quick glance before going back to watching his daughter. Mack was about to give a small wave but awkwardly recoiled her hand upon rejection.

"Who are these clowns? The cute girl can stay, but who are those two morons?" Lazlow asked loudly, jerking Mack's attention back onto him.

Mack beamed, enjoying the compliment of being called 'cute' by a D-list celebrity.

"That's my…dad. And…Trevor?" Tracey responded, growing shocked and excited by the end of her response.

"Two dads, great. Very Los Santos." Lazlow explained.

Mack chuckled, the only one to laugh about it. Everyone else was too busy, but Mack knew she now had something to tease Michael about later for a very long time. She'd definitely be telling Franklin about this later.

Tracey kept squealing her happiness, and ran over to Trevor to hug him. Mack felt a little out of place and stood out of the way to observe, inching a little more towards the door. No one was acknowledging her now and she felt like she was watching someone else's intimate moment, rather than being involved.

Mack watched on as Tracey ran back to the stage and started the show. She started to do her terrible dance, and Mack was cringing as she imagined this beaming through the living rooms of America when this went to air. Michael seemed to feel the same way, as he loudly exclaimed his displeasure.

It didn't help that Lazlow got involved with Tracey's dance, as he placed his hands on her and began to dance inappropriately with her.

"You gonna fucking do something about this?" The scary stranger angrily asked Michael.

Mack decided this was her cue to leave. Michael and the stranger were going to cause some havoc and Mack didn't want to get involved. She almost wanted to stay to watch the drama unfold but she didn't want to get involved in it. Therefore Mack swiftly walked out of the studio and waited outside.

She stood around awkwardly unsure of what she should be doing. Should she wait for Tracey to give her support, or she should she find her way home? Mack realised that she was technically friends with Michael, maybe she could convince Michael to back off and let Tracey audition and then Tracey could have another go and audition properly.

The commotion inside the studio became louder and the doors swung open. Mack couldn't see what was inside but saw Lazlow charging at her. He grabbed her by the arm and took off with her.

Mack was confused. She wasn't sure what was going on and why he had latched onto her. She chalked it up to a crazy day and decided to go along with it. If she got in Lazlow's good books maybe Tracey could audition again.

They got to the parking lot, and Mack saw an electric car.

"Please, get in. Maybe you can save me." Lazlow said out of desperation.

Mack sighed. She felt a little uncomfortable getting into a car with a near-on stranger but complied and got in anyway. Before she could even buckle up her seatbelt he took off in a rush.

"What the fuck is going on?" Mack asked Lazlow.

"Those two gay dudes started beating the shit out of me. Maybe they'll leave me alone if you're in the car with me." Lazlow responded.

Mack sighed. She was being used and her safety was at risk. This wasn't what she had in mind when she saw an opportunity to get on Lazlow's good side. She turned around and saw Michael and the other guy in the distance get into a truck to start following them. She turned back to Lazlow.

"They've just jacked a fucking truck. Dude. You need to pull over. If they start jamming you with this we're both in trouble." Mack sternly said to Lazlow.

"No, that's good news. We can outrun a truck in this baby." Lazlow smiled as he sped along.

Mack growled and got her phone out. She'd have to call Michael and let him know she was in the car too, for her own safety.

She rang Michael's cell phone and it took a few rings to get a hold of him, but he did eventually pick up.

"Look, Mackenzie. I don't really give a shit about how mad Tracey is right now. Just get her home and we'll talk later." Michael grumbled into the phone.

"Well then, I guess you don't know that Lazlow is holding me hostage in the car you're currently chasing." Mack responded sarcastically.

"What? Shit! Fucking asshole. Hold tight Mack, we'll get you out soon." Michael exclaimed before he hung up on her.

Mack sat in her seat and crossed her arms. She felt she couldn't be too mad as she did oblige and get into the car with him, it's not like he had her at gunpoint. But she didn't think she was going to be used as a human shield for Michael to keep his distance.

"Those traffic lights you're coming up to? Be careful. There's a car turning left from the other side of the road. You have the green but they're going to go anyway. If you swerve as you enter you'll not only avoid them, but put some distance between us and the truck as they'll block the road." Mack said to Lazlow as they entered an intersection.

Lazlow didn't bother to respond but as he entered the intersection he swerved to the right. Mack was correct, the car was about to turn even though they had the green light.

"How did you know?" Lazlow asked her, amazed at her prediction.

"I'm good at predicting other people's actions on the road. You can tell by subtle signs when someone is going to change lanes without an indicator, or run a red light." Mack shrugged.

Lazlow kept going, darting through the streets of Los Santos in a tiny electrical car, as a big mean looking truck was closely behind, following through. Mack decided to stay quiet and let Lazlow concentrate. Eventually he'd have to slow down. The danger for Mackenzie wasn't what would happen when Michael and Trevor caught up with them, she would be able to walk away harm free. The danger was being in the car with Lazlow, and the crazy stunts he would pull out of desperation.

Lazlow eventually made his way onto the train tracks, and Mackenzie decided to close her eyes. This whole situation was making her anxious, and the darkness of her eyes being closed made her feel a little bit better, even though it was a false sense of security. She knew deep down it would have been safer to keep them open and offer an extra pair of eyes, but she just wanted to close her eyes and keep hoping the whole ordeal would be over.

Mack felt many different terrains hitting the tyres under the car as the car sped along. The tracks disappeared and she felt road again. She felt concrete and grass as she felt sharp turns. Her eyes snapped open when she saw the car go vertically down into a drain. She sucked wind into her lungs, this car was tiny, it wouldn't be able to handle the water in the drain like a truck could. She knew this ordeal was coming to an end.

They didn't travel too far down the drain as Mack's prediction came true. There was no warning, there was no whining of the engine like she expected. It just conked out and slid a few more metres until going dead. Lazlow tried to start the car but there was no sound. Game over.

Mack waited until the truck came to a stop, as she didn't want to be run over by the truck. As soon as she saw Michael and Trevor climb out of the truck she jumped out of the car and ran over to the two men for safety. Michael gave her a squeeze on the shoulder as a positive reinforcement to show she was safe, but then the two men approached Lazlow slowly, and Mack backed off even further to distance herself from the danger in front of her.

Mack stood back and decided to just watch the show unravel. She was annoyed that she was used as a human shield by Lazlow for protection by taking her hostage, but this was Michael and Trevor's beef. She dropped all ill feelings the second the car died.

Michael and Trevor exchanged heated words with Lazlow, as they circled around him to intimidate him. Trevor growled about how Tracey had sat on his lap when she was two, and he would protect her. Lazlow said some weak excuses back. It did make Mack snigger when he mentioned his sexual harassment lawsuits. She always wondered how that guy got away with half of the stuff he did, and it dawned on Mack that perhaps he didn't, the media just covered it up.

"Clearly he ain't being humble, T. You proved your point." Michael stated to Trevor.

"This is your daughter. You should be wanting to rip the fucking ponytail off the back of this guy's head!" Trevor yelled in Michael's face before turning back to Lazlow "And you! Pants off."

"Uh….okay." Lazlow shakily responded as he followed through with Trevor's request.

Mack's eyes nearly bulged out of her head. She felt a little sorry for Lazlow at this point, even after what he had done. This was a very heated situation. However like a bad train wreck she wasn't able to take her eyes off the events unfolding.

Michael was in the same boat as Mack. He couldn't help but to stand back and watch Trevor's antics as Trevor forced Lazlow to dance to his cell phone camera, all the whole time realising Trevor was the same psychopath he was nine years ago. A lot had unfolded over the past hour, it was hard for Michael to absorb what had really happened. But for now all he could do was watch the punishment that Trevor had in store for the slimeball that had taken advantage of his daughter.

When Michael came back to earth he felt more annoyed than anything. He was finding himself growing bored and annoyed with Lazlow and wanted him out of his face so he could go home and let Trevor's return into his life sink in. Michael walked over to Lazlow after he fell down and grabbed him up, to intimidate him into leaving the area as quickly as possible.

Michael's tactics worked as Lazlow could not get out of there quick enough, running away and leaving the three left behind in the distance, not before Trevor could yell out to him threats of leaking the video he had just taken.

Michael decided to see the humour in the situation. It's all he had. He had been in hiding from nine years from this dangerous individual who had now caught up with him. It was easier for Michael to continue living in denial and his make believe world he had created in his mind and find the situation humorous, than the fear he should now be holding. Besides, Michael also decided what had happened to Lazlow was pretty funny.

"I'm going home." Michael chuckled to Trevor, before turning his back and starting to head off.

Mack shook her head and gave a dirty look to Michael's back. She was hoping after being dragged from her ride to a dirty drain, Michael might be kind enough to offer her a ride home. She had been ignored by Michael before as he came to Tracey's aide (such as on the yacht) and didn't mind those time, but this one time she thought it was pretty rude he had either forgotten about her, or didn't care enough to offer her a ride home. If Mack knew the storm happening within Michael's head she would have been more understanding, but she had no idea of the trauma Michael was trying to pretend wasn't happening.

"How the fuck did you do it without me for nine years, huh?" Trevor cackled back.

Mack decided to approach Trevor to say goodbye, even though they hadn't conversed properly.

"Um…it was nice to meet you, perhaps we'll cross paths again?" Mack awkwardly stated as she started to back off, working out in her head if it would be better to get public transport or just shell out the money for a cab.

"Hey, hey, hey. Wait. Get in the truck. Let's have a little chat." Trevor yelled out at Mack.

It was at this point where Michael turned around. He had forgotten all about Mack, and instantly felt bad. It was safe for him to be dealing with Trevor again, but Mack? Not only would it be immoral to leave someone so naïve and innocent with someone dangerous like Trevor, he knew it could be a disaster for himself. A lot of powerful people cared about Mack. Brandon would be unhappy if anything happened to her, as well as whatever detective boyfriend she had. Michael had also constantly been wondering about what went on between her and McReary after the jewel store heist, for all Michael knew they were romantically involved and that could be another enemy in the making if Michael let Mack ride with Trevor.

He waited to see when Mack would turn down the offer for a ride from a scary stranger. Unfortunately this didn't happen as Michael witnessed Mack oblige straight away and jump into the truck with no questions asked.

Michael wondered if he should yell out in protest but his phone began ringing straight away. He sighed when he saw who it was. Dave Norton. He knew he had to answer this. How could he save Mack right now, when he couldn't even save himself?


	28. Chapter 28

"Sooo... sugar tits. How do you know the fat shit?" Trevor asked Mack as he continued driving the Truck.

"I'm going to ignore asking where you got sugar tits from because I need to ask you who you're referring to when you say 'fat shit'" Mack responded confidently, holding back a snigger at Trevor's remark.

They were driving around aimlessly. Mack had attempted to tell Trevor where she needed to be dropped off, but he made a comment about how he was new to the city and was staying in his investment property in Vespucci beach. Mack felt sorry for the guy, she had a feeling he didn't have many friends.

She also knew he was dangerous according to Michael so she was a little fearful to speak up and get him to stop driving and take her home. So far he had been fairly stable with her. Mack had never studied psychology but she knew his behaviour was volatile and he could snap, based on what Michael had told her. Trevor had just found out that his best friend had been lying about being dead for nearly ten years. It was safer for Mack to go along with anything he said.

Even after knowing all of this, she decided to get into the truck when he offered a ride with no questions asked. She saw this as an adventure. Her life had been fairly mundane recently and getting into a truck with a dangerous stranger was one way to experience some fun.

"Michael Townley." Trevor responded, using a sarcastic tone in his voice.

"Oh...Michael?" Mack asked, figuring that must be Michael's birth name "He knows my brother from around, I went to a party once at their house and became friends with Tracey."

Trevor's face screwed up with rage, Mack was not sure what he was angry about, but his face then softened quickly.

"Tracey... what an angel. I rushed to the hospital when she was born and tried to gift the happy couple with beer and weed but got kicked out. Then the cops were called so I had to hide for a few days." Trevor stated.

Mack blinked in confusion and tried her hardest not to burst out laughing at how random Trevor's response was. Laughing wasn't a good idea in the company of unstable people, she knew that. Instead she decided to humour him.

"Prudes." Mack responded, screwing her face up and giggling.

"I had the last laugh. Over all of those fuckers. Every single one of them. Including Mr. Townley-whatever-the-fuck-his-last-name is. For I am now an international CEO!" Trevor passionately stated, getting so worked up in the moment he veered onto the other side of the road as he was driving. Cars went crazy and started honking like mad, he attempted to scare them by driving towards them before gliding back onto the correct side of the road.

"Oh really? What do you do?" Mack asked him.

"Business stuff. I have a few ventures. Not many people understand. You have to be business minded to get it. And I am a mother fucking businessman!" Trevor said.

"Try me. I'm currently studying business at university." Mack shrugged, finding herself curious on what Trevor had to say.

This got Trevor's attention as he peered over at the young girl. He knew he was surrounded by idiots. Wade was a good bitch to have and Ron was careful, which was sometimes needed. But they weren't the whole package. He had needed someone brilliant who understood business. What if all he needed was a woman's touch in a man's world?

"What do you know about money laundering, drug manufacturing and arms smuggling?" Trevor curiously asked the girl, his driving becoming shocking as many cars began to honk. He wasn't interested in driving right now, not when he was in the middle of a business meeting.

"I've had this exact conversation with Michael, well minus the drugs and guns thing. I've done money laundering before, but you're right. You definitely need someone who understands to do it, you can't get any idiot who's watched a gangster movie thinking they're all that. Eh, drugs and guns aren't my thing, but the business person handles the business. That's why you hire minions to produce the goods and services. So I might not be an international CEO like you, but I definitely do get it." Mack grinned.

Trevor was in awe, something he wasn't used to. The only time he ever was surprised these days was when he was angry. He was taken by surprise in a positive way and he did not know how to handle it. He was quiet for a few moments as every single emotion flew around in his head. He settled, and became calm, none of them taking effect of his body.

"Well, you've certainly proved yourself Miss Mackenzie. Are you currently looking for work? I have an opening." Trevor grinned at Mack.

Her eyes went wide. She didn't know this was supposed to be a job interview, she was just making conversation with the unstable older male. She certainly wasn't going to be getting involved in illegal activities, and wracked her brain on how to let him down nicely and not anger him.

"Um… I'm really busy at the moment with my day job and with university, I don't have the time to be a good employee. Thanks, though." She nervously declined, trying hard not to stutter in fear.

"Well, I have an opportunity you cannot refuse. I only need for you to come with me for one meeting, I need a good closer. You look like you could be a good business closer. Worst case you're female so you can just get your tits out, or fuck them or something." Trevor stated, not backing down to Mack's refusal.

Mack slumped in her seat. She wasn't sure how she was going to get out of this, she certainly didn't want to make Trevor her enemy.

* * *

Michael had been pacing around his house all night. He had been attempted to flick through channels, but wasn't able to settle on something to watch. He did attempt to put on a classic Vinewood movie, but he was interrupted halfway through by his daughter. Not that she was really interrupting the movie as he had been barely paying attention, she was interrupting his thoughts.

"Hey, Daddy. Can I please have a hundred dollars? I'm going out with Rita tonight." Tracey asked him sweetly as she bounded into the living room.

Tracey had not forgotten her anger towards Michael. She was still very angry towards her father and would go back to ignoring his existence soon, she just had to get money off of him first.

This caught Michael's attention. He usually drowned out his daughter's inane conversations about her raging social life, and the airheads she spent time around. But he knew Rita wasn't a name he had heard in a while. Tracey now spent a lot of time with Mack, so Michael knew it was strange she wasn't going to go see Mackenzie.

"Oh. Okay sure," Michael agreed as he dug out his wallet, as he would now be buying information from Tracey. "Why aren't you with Mackenzie tonight?"

"Because Dad, she won't answer her phone. She's probably with her boyfriend or doing some lame nerd school work." Tracey responded, and Michael couldn't tell whether it was an honest answer or if there was an underlying annoyed tone in Tracey's voice. Either way, he wasn't centered on his daughter's passive aggression.

Considering he had been feeling guilty, a feeling that he wasn't used to, this didn't help his mood. All afternoon he had been waiting around anxiously for some indication from Mack that she was okay. He was angry. Angry at himself for both leaving her alone with a psycho, and also angry at himself for feeling like this. Mackenzie was just a spoilt girl who lived in the same suburb as him, why should he let himself get so worked up?

He had been staring at his phone all night. Would she contact him? She had no reason to. He wasn't her dad or her lover.

He decided to get out his iFruit phone and message her. All he needed was a response back and he could go back to his normal life of self-hate and self-absorption. He took a while to decide what to send to her, before deciding to play it cool.

 _Thanks for helping with Tracey today. She's calmed down enough to ask for money, ha ha. You get home alright?_

From there, Michael played the waiting game. Two minutes after he regretted his decision to reach out to her. He didn't realise this would be more agony, as he would be more desperate for a response.

Like a young girl he waited by the phone as he waited for a member of the opposite sex to call. Amanda had come home at one point and said something to Michael before leaving again. He wasn't sure what she said, he was more concerned about waiting for a response. He had even resorted to making a coffee and was sitting at the kitchen table, staring his phone on the table, waiting for it to light up.

After waiting a half hour Michael couldn't stand it anymore. Without even thinking about what he was doing he found himself grabbing his keys and running out the door. He jumped into his Tailgater and found himself racing to the outskirts of the suburbs, where Mack's house resided.

It took him only two minutes, he managed to shave a whole four minutes off the usual drive. Michael wasn't usually the most cautious driver, but tonight he was crazy, even by his standards. He found himself running every red light and driving twice the speed limit. He wanted to get to Mack's as quickly as possible. Not to see if she was okay, but just to put his mind at rest.

He pulled up outside her house. There was no room for his car in the driveway. As her house was more modest than his, there was only room for two cars and both spots were taken. Mack's red Blista was in the driveway and there was another more masculine car. Michael knew that Mack had a male housemate, and was silently hoping it wouldn't be this male that answered the door. He knew this didn't look right, an older male asking for Mack to see if she was fine, for no real reason at all.

He got to the front door and rang the doorbell. After waiting patiently for a few moments he rang the doorbell again. After no response and feeling a bit stupid for waiting around, he gave a loud rap on the door violently.

This seemed to get a response from the occupants inside as a few extra lights were switched on. Michael heard a few locks being unlocked from the inside and the door was cautiously opened.

Michael saw Mackenzie looking worried wearing nothing but a short robe, and a very muscular shirtless guy behind her glaring at Michael. Mackenzie's face softened as she turned to the shirtless man.

"It's just Michael, Tracey's father. Not an intruder." Mackenzie stated to the man.

"Um…your doorbell is broken." Michael awkwardly stated, his words escaping him as he had no idea what to say in this situation.

"Yeah, it's been broken since I was a kid. Brandon and I never bothered to fix it when we inherited the place. Hang on, let me come outside. I'll be back in a second, okay?" Mack stated to the male as she turned around. He only sent her a nod, before giving one last glance to Michael before Mack stepped outside and shut the door.

"So, who's that?" Michael asked Mackenzie, finding himself curious about who the tall, dark and handsome stranger was in her life.

"Um, that's David. Cop boyfriend. Hence why I've shut the door and stepped outside." Mack awkwardly stated.

She took a few steps away from the door for extra privacy before shutting her robe further and looking around awkwardly to see if the neighbours saw her in her current state.

A realisation then dawned on Michael. Mack was in a robe and her boyfriend was shirtless. They both had disheveled hair. It was then made obvious to Michael he was interrupting an act that makes Baby Jesus cry. It made him feel unsettled, more than he knew it should, so he tried to push it to the back of his mind.

"Okay. I bet you're wondering why I'm here…" Michael started, trying to start conversation as he wasn't sure where it was going. He was wondering what he was doing on her door step himself.

"Kind of. I'm guessing it has something to do with Trevor Phillips though…" Mack answered, awkwardly shifting uncomfortably on the spot.

"Well, yeah. He's a fucking psychopath. I just wanted to make sure he didn't hurt you, or anything." Michael explained.

Mack looked at Michael and didn't know how to respond. She felt anger rise, but then disappear. Michael abandoned her, but Mack realised he had no obligation to offer her a ride anyway. She then realised he took the time to see if she was okay hours later, so she knew anger wasn't an appropriate emotion.

Then the guilt came. She knew guilt wasn't an appropriate emotion either, as what she had agreed to had no bearing on Michael's life. But she was still dreading informing him what she was about to say.

"Um, no. He didn't hurt me. He did kind of make me agree to help him with something under duress, though." Mack awkwardly stated.

"Oh?" Michael asked, cocking up an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he needs help with some business stuff." Mack added on, cringing as she waited for Michael's negative response.

Michael was silent for a few moments. The thoughts going through his head were very similar to what Mack was going through not too long ago. He felt anger rising, but knew he had no reason to be angry. Mack was just a friend of his daughter's. She wasn't family and she wasn't a lover. Her making a stupid decision had no effect on his life. Unlike Mack, Michael was not an expert at changing or hiding his emotions. He knew he needed to get out of there, fast.

"Well. I can see you're okay, and I can see you're about to make a real stupid decision. Don't say I didn't warn you about Trevor," Michael spat out before he could help himself "I hope you come to your senses and stay away from him"

Mack cocked her head in confusion. She didn't handle aggression well, especially from older males. It made her feel like a child again, and it made her very upset.

She bit back tears, but found herself unable to speak. She knew later adequate responses would come to her, and she'd be angry at herself for not telling Michael to go fuck himself. But in the actual moment she was teary, but didn't want Michael to know.

"Well, okay. Thanks for the warning. I guess I'll see you later." Mack quietly responded, forcing a very fake smile across her face.

Michael took a step back. He was still angry as well but regret washed over him. He had too much pride to apologise or make it better, so he stumbled back a few steps taking one last look at Mack, before turning away and getting back into his car.

* * *

Michael had taken a long time to drive home. He couldn't understand the feelings swimming around in his head. His whole life he had always put himself first, so he didn't understand why some twenty-something girl had confused him and clouded his thoughts.

When he finally did come home, he saw Tracey in the lounge room watching television, her trashy friend Rita was passed out on the floor.

"Good one Dad!" Tracey hissed as Michael stepped into the room "Not only are you always actively trying to ruin my life, but now you're trying to ruin Mack's too!"

Michael gulped in fear. He forgot other repercussions of his outburst on Mackenzie's doorstep. He forgot that Mack was good friend's with his daughter, and could have told her anything. Any way Mack would relay the story to his daughter, he looked terrible. Hopefully it wouldn't get back to Amanda.

"You went around to her place to check up on me. Why would you do that?" Tracey screeched loudly, her voice echoing around the whole house. It still wasn't enough to wake her friend in her drunken stupor, who remained passed out.

Michael smiled a little. She had lied, Mackenzie had told Tracey that Michael went around to check up on Tracey, and not herself. Maybe that's what Mack truly believed. But he was out of trouble with his family at least, so that was one small win for the night.

"How is that ruining Mack's life? I was checking up on you." Michael bitterly asked her.

"Because right before you turned up, Mack and her boyfriend David were having sex for the first time! Way to ruin that for her!" Tracey sarcastically bit back.

Michael's smile fell from his face. The image of Mack in her small robe and her very muscular and good looking lover's image came back to haunt him. Suddenly his win didn't feel like a win anymore.


	29. Chapter 29

**It's been a while. Sorry, had a bit of writer's block and struggled with this chapter. I also started another story for another fandom but I'd rather update this one as you guys actually review and leave feedback, so I prefer you guys better.**

* * *

Mack sighed as she walked into the dirty bar. She arrived late on purpose as she knew Trevor would be late, but a quick glance around showed he still wasn't there.

She felt outside her comfort zone. This bar was nothing like they had in Los Santos. The night Michael had come to pick her up when Tracey had ditched her, that was Mack's idea of a dive bar. Somewhere full of men with a pool table and a few beers on tap. It wasn't until right this moment that Mack understood what a "dodgy" bar was. She even saw a few rats scampering outside the front. There was dirt, grime, grease and wet sticky stuff located throughout the entire bar. A weird smell of cooking ran throughout the bar instead of the usual stale beer smell that bars in Los Santos had. It wasn't a nice homely cooking smell, more like cheap meat and old grease.

She tried not to cringe as she walked towards the bar. She tried to not make eye contact with any of the patrons, but decided to order a drink so she would have to talk to the bar-maid, if you could call her that.

"Sorry, but we don't serve any of that fancy cosmopolitan shit." The bar maid said to Mack before she could even speak up, her voice thick with a typical redneck drawl.

Mack sunk down into her chair as she realised this bought attention to her. All of the patrons stopped to have a look at the girl who had just stepped in, who was clearly an outsider.

"Um, a Pisswasser is fine, thanks." Mack nervously stated, she knew it wasn't worth informing the bar maid that she never drank cocktails anyway.

The barmaid poured the drink and Mack handed over the money and Mack nervously started drinking her beer, trying not to make eye contact with the patrons who were all staring at her, whilst she would periodically look towards the door to see if Trevor had arrived.

Mack insisted on coming separately. Trevor did offer to make the trip down to Los Santos to give her a ride as he was staying in some beach apartment between his trips to Sandy Shores, but Mack insisted on coming alone. She knew it wasn't a good idea to be stuck two hours away with no car just in case any stuff went down.

She almost regretted her decision as she awkwardly waited. He was now running considerably late, he was meant to get here before their business meeting for a pep talk, that's what he had wanted.

"Hi there little lady." Mack heard a male voice say as he took a seat next to her at the bar.

Mack froze. She wasn't expecting anyone to talk to her, and didn't know how to react.

"Hi..." Mack trailed off as she turned around to face him, unsure of what to say as she didn't know this man's intentions.

The man looked frightening to Mack, who up until this moment realised just how sheltered her world was. She always thought she was young and adventurous and had seen the worst of the world. She had partied in South Los Santos. She had taken walks down the homeless capital of the world: Mission Row. She had not however considered that maybe there was a lot more the world had outside her safe Los Santos bubble.

Mack studied the man carefully. Straight away she could see he was part of a biker gang. He had a shaved head, a bit of stubble and a leather jacket with what she assumed was his biker gang on the back. Mack saw some motorcycles on the way in, and realised they would belong to this man and the people he was with, who were seated at the back of the bar.

"What are you doing here?" The biker asked Mack.

Mack shuffled in her seat as she grew even more uncomfortable. She did not know this man's intentions and it made her more uncomfortable as time went on.

"I um... meeting a friend." Mack softly spoke, her usual confidence melting away in intimidation.

The biker said nothing but stared her down. The barmaid poured the stranger another drink without him uttering a single word to her and he didn't take his eyes off Mack as he grabbed the glass of her and took a few swigs.

It was then he decided to speak up.

"You look like you need protection if you're going to play in Blaine County. I can organise security for as little as a grand a week for the basic package, includes having the crew check in on your operations on our rides around." The biker proposed to Mack, a cocky grin on his face.

Mack looked down. Fear rose in her body. She had agreed to the meeting as she was afraid of Trevor and thought coming to "close" this meth deal for him would get him off of her back. But now she was playing in other people's territories and was associating with bikers who wanted money for "protection".

She was digging herself into a deeper hole and she knew it.

Mack eagerly dived for her phone as two people came to mind that she could ask for help from. She knew very little about the criminal world, knowing only second hand knowledge from her associates as well as movies and television. She was fearful of alerting her brother to the danger she was currently facing but she also knew he'd be upset she was in a criminal operation without him. The only other person she could think of was Michael, and he had already flipped out at the mention she was helping Trevor with something. Even if he did offer advice Mack would not have trusted what he had to say.

Then a moment of clarity struck her. Trevor put her in this bar because he needed someone with business sense rather than just another criminal. She knew business. Rather than pretending to be someone she's not and hope for the best, she realised her best chance of coming out of this encounter was to work with what she knew. That was what she would do.

"Sounds like quite a good proposal. What was your name again? Are you really the best in the business?" Mack responded as she arched an eyebrow as she feigned confidence, hiding her shaking hands below the bar.

"It's Johnny. And we sure are ma'am." The biker responded.

Mack suppressed a sigh as she began to think of an adequate response to hold the guy off whilst she waited for Trevor. Luckily for her someone else provided a distraction that would get her off the hook and get rid of Johnny.

Another biker entered the bar, a generic looking one in a bandana who was clad with leather like the rest. He took one look around at the patrons and bellowed "AZTECAS, AZTECAS ARE COMING!"

A mighty roar was let out by the bikers in the bar in unison, and Mack couldn't tell whether it was meant to be a war cry, or whether it was fear.

"Well that's my cue to leave, sweet cheeks." Johnny said to Mack as he jumped off his bar stool.

"I thought you were the best in the business, clearly not." Mack scoffed, playing the part of someone who was considering Johnny's offer, although it was still a bold move on her behalf.

"I'll tell you what. As I'm in a rush you can have today free. But if I ever see you around Blaine County again, you'll need protection." Johnny briskly responded as he bounded out the door with the rest of his bikers group and Mack could tell it was a thinly veiled threat and not a sales pitch.

She at first wondered what gave her away that she was in Blaine County conducting illegal business for him to take advantage of, as she was just a twenty-one year old visiting from Los Santos, dressed in a pencil skirt and a suit. Then it dawned on her. Amongst the hillbillies and the white trash she stuck out like a sore thumb. Being an innocent looking girl had nothing to do with it. It was clear she was there to be doing something she shouldn't be.

 _Fuck, I hope he didn't think I was a prostitute. Meth-closer I can deal with, prostitute I can't_. Mack thought to herself as she eyed the door, growing more impatient and anxious for Trevor's arrival each passing second.

It was when she finished her Pisswasser and ordered a second one when someone finally walked in, but it wasn't Trevor. She saw two Asian men step in, and she realised they must be the "Chinese" contacts Trevor was talking about.

One of them went running to the bar and happily tried to order something in his native language. The bar maid looked at the man and at Mack, and Mack shrugged as she didn't know what was going on.

The bar maid didn't even bother to respond to the man, only grunting towards him in response.

"Yes, two beers, thank you." The second man politely ordered, giving one to the younger man who was now yelling and screaming in his language, pointing to the jukebox and dancing erratically.

"Are you Mr Cheng?" Mack asked the man, who seemed hesitant to approach her as he wasn't sure whether she was involved in the deal.

"Mr Philips said business partner would joining us. I am Mr Cheng's translator." The man responded.

Mack looked towards the man dancing and noticed he had removed his loose tie and wrapped it around his head. A country song that Mack had never heard before was playing, but he man was dancing in a fast paced manner as if it were hardcore techno house music in a nightclub.

"Nice to meet you. What does Mr Cheng want to know about Trevor Philips Industries?" Mack asked the translator, figuring out that the main contact was most likely a figurehead and it was the translator who was the real person behind this operation.

* * *

"…so as it's TPI's second year of operation and we're already making profit, the equity to liabilities is low as all assets have been paid off and frankly our company's direction seems to be aligning very closely to yours, I think we'd make a very formidable business partner, and main supplier." Mack stated to the translator, finishing her twenty-minute proposal.

"Miss Lancaster, that sound very good. When your proprietor comes, we discuss and sign the contracts." The translator stated to Mackenzie.

Mack smiled to herself. She knew contracts mean shit as illegal contracts are not bound by law, but she had done it. She had closed the deal even without Trevor, so she had done him his favour and could now go back to being Mackenzie Lancaster, the university student who now very occasionally dabbled a little in the criminal underworld.

She had been so busy discussing with the translator she didn't notice the fight happening behind her, or Trevor breaking it up. It was only when he approached the group (the group loosely involving Tao Cheng who was still dancing and yelling, it had now become apparent to Mack he had ingested some of the product he was attempting to sell).

"Hello Trevor. This is Tao Cheng's translator. We were just discussing the proposal and apparently he's very interested, and wishes to speak with you to finalise everything." Mack grinned, as she pushed the translator towards Trevor.

Trevor peered down at the translator, who began to grow nervous under Trevor's stare. Trevor didn't let up and kept intimidating the man, only speaking up when Mr Cheng started yelling more inane things in his language.

"What the fuck is wrong with him?" Trevor asked.

Tao kept dancing and Trevor growled and exclaimed he was "out" as he stormed out of the bar. The translator ran after Trevor but Mack sighed as she downed the last of her beer, and slowly jumped off her bar stool and followed them outside, Tao Cheng on her tail as the song finished.

She was a little annoyed she wasted an afternoon setting up a business deal that Trevor was going to cancel when she could have been at home catching up on university work but then she decided she would drop it and stop caring. She did Trevor a favour, she didn't care that Trevor was stupidly giving up this opportunity and the impact it had on his illegal business.

"Well, let me show you the operation." Mack heard Trevor say to the translator as she headed outside. The deal was clearly still on.

"I uh... I'm going to head off. I've filled in Mr Cheng's translator in on the business and he wants to sign up. I've got to head back to Los Santos..." Mack began.

"Why? Got a plastic surgery appointment? You're not going anywhere." Trevor growled at Mack.

Mack sent him a forced smile and she jumped into the back of Trevor's Bodhi with Tao Cheng who seemed to be excited for his adventure in an American truck.

The ride was silent for a few minutes except for Trevor's radio blasting the punk music from the radio station Channel X. Mack closed her eyes as she let the warm wind hit her face and blow her hair back. Summer was now over but in the desert Sandy Shores it was still very warm. It gave her a small sense of freedom. Her life had become boring and mundane but now she was getting involved in meth deals and jewellery heists. A few months ago she would have been horrified by these things, but now she felt alive again.

A phone began to ring and Mack noticed that that Trevor took one hand off the wheel and answered it.

* * *

Mack was a mess when she pulled up back into her driveway that night. The events that unfolded took a while to sort out, and with the long drive back to Los Santos it was nightfall by the time she was home.

Her perfectly applied makeup had nearly worn off. She had to throw her hair in ponytail as the sweat had made it greasy. She removed her jacket a long time ago as sweat and dirt had ruined it, and her white business shirt was also covered in dirt. She looked like a hot mess.

She barely noticed the car parked outside the front of her house but it became apparent when someone got out. Mack made no effort to go inside as she grinned at the figure approaching her.

"Hey Franklin, long time no see!" Mack greeted, offering Franklin a fist bump to which he bumped his fist enthusiastically.

"What's the deal with this?" Franklin asked Mack, as he pointed to her appearance.

"Trevor fucking Philips, that's what." Mack growled.

"You know what? Let's go on a Cluckin' Bell run, and you can tell me all about it." Franklin proposed.


	30. Chapter 30

**It's been a while, sorry :( I've probably lost all of my readers as it's been over 6 months since I updated. I really want to develop and finish this story so I'm going to try and regularly update again :)**

* * *

Mackenzie fidgeted into her seat as she waited in the seaside bar. She was sick of waiting for Trevor Philips in bars. This one was one along Vespucci Beach that looked out along the sea so she was at least in her hometown with normal people around and not bikers, but it was still tiring to her. Another main difference was that her brother was late as well. Mack was in a seaside bar waiting for her brother and Trevor, it wasn't an everyday meeting.

It had only been ten minutes but she was already on her second wine. A group of drunk guys had already hassled her, but they were quickly ejected by the security guards. Luckily this served as a warning to others and she was left alone as she scrolled through her LifeInvader app on her phone. It was halfway through her second wine when she saw Brandon and Trevor climb the staircase that led to the bar and both of them made a beeline to her.

"This guy is absolutely crazy, he is insane," Brandon stated but then broke out into a grin "he's perfect for the job."

Mack noticed Trevor luckily didn't hear Brandon's comment as she didn't think he'd take it too well. Trevor was busy looking around the bar and Mack noticed his eyes seemed to be fixated on the many women around.

"Where's that Franklin kid?" Trevor suddenly asked, snapping away from a woman in her fifties who was wearing leopard print.

"He texted me before. He couldn't make it. Apparently Michael wanted to meet up with him at the oil rig or something, he wasn't very specific." Mack responded.

"That's fine. I was going to see who would be more appropriate for the job. I thought a black kid would look worse but nope, I think Trevor is perfect for this job." Brandon grinned, speaking up before Trevor could insult Michael in his absence.

"Well, what is the job?" Trevor asked Brandon, giving him his full attention suddenly.

"I need you to fuck my wife." Brandon smirked.

Mackenzie, who had taken a big gulp of wine, had to try her hardest not to spit it out in shock. She managed to hold it together and swallow and immediately began her tirade against her brother.

"What the fuck Brandon? That's disgusting. I don't care about this swinger lifestyle you have going on but why do I need to set up your new partners?" Mack angrily asked, bringing attention to the trio as a few tables looked over.

"What the FUCK are you all looking at, huh? Are you just jealous because you're all SACKS OF SHITS who can't score, or just prudes with their heads shoved so far up their own asshole you've discovered the gateway to hell?" Trevor angrily asked.

Mack wasn't sure whether they were offended or scared by Trevor's outburst but immediately they all looked away and didn't dare to even give a passing glance for the rest of the night.

"No, little sister. That's not it at all. You see, open relationships are very complicated things. In order for them to work it's important to set rules and boundaries." Brandon explained to her.

Mack raised an eyebrow at his statement but decided to not speak up. She would never understand open relationships, she knew it would never be something to consider. If you're happy to share your life partner with other people how could there be rules and boundaries, when the biggest boundary possible had been pushed? She wasn't the biggest romantic in the world nor was she very sentimental when it came to relationships, but she knew the jealousy was something she would never be able to overcome.

Mack looked over at Trevor expecting him to butt in and make some remarks but instead she noticed he was intently listening in. This was out of character for him.

As both Trevor and Mack were now silent, Brandon knew he could continue with his plan.

"We had one rule each. I wasn't allowed to cuddle anyone after, I had to fuck and go. Works for me, don't want to waste my time on monkey business anyway. Her rule was very simple. She wasn't allowed to fuck anyone from the country club. Don't shit where you eat, I don't want any of those guys thinking I married a slut. But lo and behold, I found out she did." Brandon angrily explained.

"Whoa, whoa. I'm going to need to stop you there buddy. I'm all for your rule of no country club FUCKS, but there's no need to use such a disrespectful word to describe women, okay there tiger?" Trevor piped up, staying calm except for his one use of the word 'fuck'

Brandon looked between Trevor and Mack. Mack only shrugged her shoulders when she caught Brandon's eye. Mack had no idea what was going on. It was hard to empathise with Brandon's predicament as he had preaching to her over and over about why open marriages were the best marriages and kept insisting it would work. At the end of the day though he was her brother and pretty much the only family she had, so she would lend a sympathetic ear even if she didn't understand it all.

Both the Lancaster siblings were shocked at Trevor's chivalry however. Brandon had heard many stories (mostly from Lester but he had managed to hear a few from Amanda) about the infamous Mr Philips, and Mack had seen firsthand how psychotic he could be. Even with Trevor's soft spot for women, Brandon decided to press on with his proposal. He was the connections guy. He had never failed to be able to recruit someone for a job, he certainly wasn't going to fail for his own.

"Sure, sorry. I only meant that because you know how those rich fuckers think. A liberated woman who doesn't fall to their unrealistic conservative standards must be the "s" word, right?" Brandon quickly saved, spending a few moments beforehand carefully choosing his words.

Trevor's eyes narrowed but seconds later he broke out into a big grin and then uncontrollable laughter. His laughter went on for two minutes, long past the time it was acceptable to laugh and Brandon awkwardly looked at Mack, waiting for Trevor to calm down.

"You know for two pretentious Los Santos residents, you both go alright. Sure, I'll fuck your wife. I won't even ask what for. Just give me a call and we'll work it out." Trevor stated as he stood up and finished his beer.

"Are you off?" Mack asked suddenly.

"Sorry Mackenzie dearest but I have places to meet, people to fuck. This plastic bar full of dead fucks is depressing me." Trevor stated, yelling the last part of his sentence before he threw his empty glass at the table closest to them, smashing it as he stormed out without even a proper goodbye to the two.

Mack embraced herself as she waited for security to pounce on Brandon and herself, as they were in Trevor's company. This did not happen. The security guard was talking to the bar man as it happened. He kept his eyes on Trevor but noticed that as Trevor had left, the problem was solved.

"That's how you get people to do your work for you. You read them, and see what they want. I was going to offer him money, but now I don't need to spend a cent." Brandon proudly stated.

Mack rolled her eyes. She felt in this instance Brandon's reading of Trevor was initially wrong and it was pure dumb luck that he was able to grasp on one of Trevor's angry outbursts to win him over. She didn't want to burst her brother's bubble, but more importantly she had one question she had been eager to ask since the beginning of their meeting.

"Why do you want Trevor to sleep with Melody? What's that going to accomplish?" Mack asked him curiously.

"Oh my dear Mack, you have it so easy being a woman. If I file for divorce, Melody will use my money to shell out for an expensive attorney. She'll cry in court, claim I was emotionally unavailable. She'll claim she gave up some non-existence job to be my wife and claim loss of income. She'll lie and say she fought hard for the marriage as proved by the fact I filed for irreconcilable differences." Brandon explained to Mack.

Mack was silent for a few moments as she let it sink in what Brandon was saying. He wanted to divorce Melody, and was using Trevor to help him do so. If Trevor slept with Brandon's wife...

"She'll then look unfavourable in the courts for cheating. It's a pretty genius plan, but you should speak to a lawyer first. Unfortunately this is San Andreas, the first state to adopt 'no-fault' divorce that essentially does not give a shit about cheating spouses." Mackenzie revealed.

"My dear little Mack, who do you think came up with the infidelity idea? My lawyer. I too was sceptical about the cheating idea. After growing up in Rockford Hills you make some observations – everyone is so unhappy in their marriages but no one gets a divorce. It's great for sleazy old men, they can fuck twenty year old bimbos to their heart attack's desire and their thirty-five year old trophy wives can't do shit. But then again those thirty-five year old trophy wives can go on to have affairs with their personal trainers and don't risk losing their gravy train. Everybody wins." Brandon sarcastically explained, using a forced grin.

"Except for the guy with an open marriage whose wife had sex with a guy from the same golf Country Club." Mack teased, sticking her tongue out at her brother wanting to push his boundaries.

"As well as the De Santas. Michael De Santa will continue to sleep with barely and perhaps not even legal strippers, whilst Amanda will always find some stud to take her frustrations out on very sexually, and hopefully I'll continue to be one of them." Brandon grinned widely.

Mack made a disgusted face and took a few moments to register Brandon's comment. It wasn't news to Mack that Amanda and Michael were very unhappily married. It also wasn't a surprise that Amanda liked fooling around with good looking younger (but not inappropriately younger) men, as Mack was present when Michael busted Amanda with the tennis coach.

She didn't know how to feel about the revelation that Michael liked very young women. Mack always felt Amanda was the one who was wronging Michael, what she was doing wasn't 'right' but if Michael was sleeping with younger women he was just as bad as Amanda. Mack now felt a little bad for taking a silent dislike to the woman.

"Anyway, leave the legalities to me and my lawyer. We need to work out a game plan for how this is all going to go down. Melody will need to somehow meet Trevor, and then go on to fuck him." Brandon spoke up, in an attempt to steer the topic off the De Santas and back to their plan.

* * *

"What the fuck Melody? You need to finish that drink before we are even in sight of those security guards let alone try and enter. They will never let us in." Mack hissed towards her brother's wife.

The two girls were very dressed up, in two different ways.

Melody, the older but very attractive woman was primped up. She had carefully curled her hair to cascade down her back to flow over her backless white dress that loosely tied at the back, and the material at the front was very fitted, if the tight dress didn't leave much to the imagination the colour of the dress certainly didn't when a bright light was shone onto her. Her eyes were done darkly – a glistening smoky eye, but still very noticeable with dark lipstick and very obvious contouring. Whilst Melody didn't look terrible, she had a very clear message painted on her body that she was after a lot of fun that night – a look that was encouraged by Mack as the two girls got ready earlier in the evening.

Mackenzie on the other hand looked the total opposite, she looked like class – which usually wasn't her signature look. She thought it would help her mission if she played a prissy bitch compared to Melody who looked open for business. It would entice Melody into a false sense of security and encourage her to go home with a guy (Trevor) but also in the evidence the private investigator would be collecting tonight, it would paint Melody very unfavourably when placed next to the innocent looking Mack.

She wore a black off the shoulder long sleeve dress, very minimal makeup (besides the cover-up, mascara and blush she just had winged eyeliner and her lips the slightest red) and her hair was styled into a simple up-do with her bangs sticking out.

The plan according to Melody was that she was on the prowl for fresh meat, and Mack would be the wing woman. Mack had lied through her teeth to Melody and said she too would be 'open' to finding a handsome stranger. In reality Mack was very happy with David and didn't want to try with another man. Also in reality the night was completely controlled by Mackenzie and Brandon, and the 'strangers' they would meet.

The idea was for Melody and Mack to enter this bar and have a few 'shots' – the bar staff had already been warned and paid off to make Melody's drinks stronger and serve water disguised as alcohol to Mack. Mack was always up for a drink and was always the life of the party but she was a very typical lightweight, and for tonight she had to make strategic decisions without the influence of alcohol. All of the vodka lime sodas that Mack insisted on preparing as they got ready at Brandon and Melody's place were purely just soda water for her, and mostly vodka for Melody.

After the shots the girls would start to look for men to flirt with. In Melody's eyes they were looking for a group of suitable men that were not known to them. Mackenzie's point of view was that she was going to keep an eye out for the two men that Brandon had chosen and coax Melody over. Trevor wanted to bring his friend from Sandy Shores he was crashing friend, Wade. After Brandon met him and saw he had the intelligence of a first-grader Brandon disagreed and lined up Patrick McReary instead. Not only was he a reasonably cluey criminal who would think quickly on his feet, there was more emotional attachment as well. Packie had known Brandon since they were teenagers, so he wanted to help out his friend. Packie also thought Brandon's little sister was very cute, so although he would look after a friend's sister it was very easy for him to flirt with her as part of the plan.

They would first chat as a group, Mack would 'get along' with Packie more, leaving Melody to hopefully drool over Trevor. Best case scenario Trevor and Melody would decide to leave and go make lots of evidence for Brandon's divorce case. Otherwise it would be Packie and Mack who would split, leaving Melody and Trevor alone to get up to no good. It was a solid plan, as long as everything went well. Right now Melody seemed to be ruining this by ensuring they didn't get in, as she refused to put her drink away as they joined the queue.

"Hey, you two. Front of the line." One of the security guards said as he beckoned the two over.

"Don't have to wait in a queue to get in? Still got it." Melody giggled and Mack rolled her eyes as they went over. The security guard did not look happy.

"What sort of shit do you think you're playing at? Get the fuck out of here. You're completely trashed, and trying to sneak drinks in past my watch?" the security guard shouted.

Mack didn't like his attitude and thought he was taking his job way too seriously. She however remained silent – there was no point arguing with him as it wasn't going to get them anyway. She muttered a polite "thank you anyway" and got her phone out ready to plan a new venue but Melody did something that would work in their favour, something they all could not have predicted.

"Follow me into that alleyway cutie, and I'll give you a reason to let us in." Melody winked towards him.

The security guard looked around nervously and when he realised no one had heard Melody's proposal and no one was looking their way, he growled for Mack to go into the club and followed Melody into the alley. Mack already had her phone in her hand and furiously texted Brandon to give his private investigator this tip as she headed back to the club entrance.

"You can go in if you want. I'm guessing my co-worker and your little friend won't be too long." The remaining security guard remarked as he opened the rope for Mack and closed it behind her.

Mack declined his request as she didn't want to venture too far off the course of the plan. The plan was for her and Melody to walk in together and to get some more alcohol into Melody before they would approach Trevor. Mack didn't want to go in alone.

Instead she stayed with the lone security guard and made idle chit-chat with him. He had moved to Los Santos from the Midwest about six months ago not sure what to do with his life. So he became a bouncer but wasn't sure it was the career path for him. By the time Melody was coming back to Mack wiping her mouth clean they had added each other on Lifeinvader and she promised to look over his resume if he sent it to her, and let him know of any job openings she knew that were available.

Melody and Mackenzie were now clear to enter the club and they both stepped in. They both extruded confidence as they strut to the bar. Many pairs of eyes seemed to follow them as they did so. Women were scoffing and men were drooling at the pair who seemed so subtle yet were causing lots of drama.

A few men approached the women as they ordered their drinks and began to sip them. Mackenzie took leadership and while she wouldn't outwardly tell them or go away and be rude, she gave small signs to show they weren't interested and when the men realised they weren't going to get sex from the women they stopped wasting their time and moved on to other targets.

"The first few I understand why you put your bitch face on, but why those last two. They were cute." Melody pouted.

Out of the corner of Mack's eye she saw the two people she had been waiting for arrive and take a seat at a fairly secluded booth that was far away from the busy bar and the dancefloor that was to the left. Mack sent the two a nod to indicate she saw them, and she'd be soon be implementing their plan/

"Melody, you're a modern-age hippy, and it's great. You burn incense and oils, you do yoga not because it's now a trendy fucked-up Los Santos fad, but because you enjoy the freedom it gives you. You only ever wear shoes if you have to and prefer bare feet. Did you really want to let some corporate douchebag put his penis inside you? Your body is a temple, right?" Mack grinned, using an argument she had stored in her head – there were a few she had been devising over the last week once Brandon gave her this mission.

Melody stood there staring at Mack as she was deep in thought. Mack had to hide a grimace as she worried that Melody wouldn't fall for what Mack was trying to pull. However this was not the case, Melody was just a bit drunk and was having trouble with her thought processes.

"Yeah, you're right. But this bar is full of those morons you just described." Melody sighed loudly.

Mack grinned widely. Now it was her time to put the plan into motion and pounce.

"Not those two in the booths. Look at them, strong brooding types. I can see tortured souls in their eyes." Mack said, as she nodded her head to Packie and Trevor, both who had their eyes on the two women as they were sipping beers.

Melody quickly looked towards the two and raised an eyebrow. The two men were the ones she used to go for before she met the charming and handsome Brandon Lancaster. Men who would continually ask to borrow money and usually spend it on cigarettes, alcohol or drugs. Men who would disappear for weeks at a time and reappear suddenly either with another woman, or when they needed something.

Brandon was good to her, but she was sick of his routine and almost-conservative lifestyle. She had secretly (or so she thought) slept with someone from his country club to break the one rule he had for her, in hopes of getting a thrill of breaking the rules. She didn't, he lasted all of about ten pumps and then bragged she was better than his wife. Maybe she needed to pry away from the new-money pricks who only cared about money and sex, and go back to her roots. She seemed a lot happier with a guy who looked ready for a fight rather than ready for business, and this was now her chance to live again.

Melody didn't even bother to speak up to agree with Mack and began to head over to the booth.

Getting caught off guard at the fact she had won some power by ensuring Melody was only interested in the two men they were set-up with, but she had also lost control of the situation and needed to pounce back on it.

"I call dibs on the one in the jeans and t-shirt." Mack hissed in Melody's ear as she began to stalk over to the booths.

"Good," Melody smiled brightly "I had my eye on the one in the dirty shirt and sweatpants anyway. It's so sexy he chooses to protest Los Santos' unreasonable expectations by wearing the polar opposite of what he should."

Mack finally breathed a sigh of relief and found herself relaxing for the first time that night. She had done it – she had gotten Melody interested in Trevor. This would now be a shoo-in. Melody wanted Trevor and it seemed no matter how crazy or unhinged he seemed, it wouldn't matter. Melody had built some kind of picture in her head and their plan would most likely succeed.

Mack giggled as she took a seat next to Packie. She knew Trevor's attire wasn't some subversive protest, but it didn't matter. The hard work was now over.


	31. Chapter 31

"WHAT THE FUCK BRANDON? YOU'RE SUCH AN ASSHOLE." Melody Lancaster yelled at her soon to be ex-husband, Brandon as she threw a plate at his head.

Brandon grinned and ducked just in time, the plate breaking on the wall behind him.

"That was a Maxwell and Williams plate given to us as a wedding present. Very fitting isn't it? If our life was a novel it would be a tragic love story where the author would use the broken dinner plate as a motif of how our marriage was not to be," Brandon said in mock disappointment before he revealed his true feelings again "Now finish packing and get the fuck out."

Michael De Santa shifted his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other as he watched the scene unfold. He less-than-secretly was over the moon to learn that there were other couples out there that had just as much of a dysfunctional marriage as his own, or perhaps Brandon and Melody were even worse off. However he had been caught smack bang in the middle of Melody packing up to move out when the situation was still very raw. Lester had even refused to come into the house and said he would wait in the car until Melody left the house.

Michael and Lester had arranged to see Brandon today to come together and discuss the jewel heist now it was wrapped up. The cash had now been dispersed to all crew involved and the police had made statements blaming the heist on Mexican drug cartels so it looked as though they had gotten away with it.

However according to Lester, he and Brandon always got together after a heist to pass feedback and discuss other matters. Michael thought it was a pointless crock of shit but as he was the one who organised the heist Lester insisted he be there.

"Get fucked. I'm fucking done for today. I'll be back tomorrow for the rest of my stuff, you stupid prick," Melody said with disgust, looking at the last thing in her hand which was a photo album "Here, this is yours. I don't want anything to remind me of you or your stupid fucking sister."

Melody's aim was horrible as the album landed nowhere near Brandon, skidding to Michael's feet instead. Michael picked up the album just as Brandon followed Melody out and finally lost his cool, yelling many insults towards her. This was lost on Michael, as his attention turned to the album and as if he was on autopilot he perused the photos inside.

The photos weren't in chronological order so it was made apparent that Brandon had thrown together photos he had on hand into an album, rather than a photo album one sometimes make filling it as they go.

There were many photos of different people but Michael could tell they were all of Brandon's family. They featured a lot of a very handsome man with dark hair and bright eyes accompanied by a beautiful blonde with sandy hair. It made sense to Michael why the two Lancaster siblings had hit the genetic lottery – with two parents as attractive as they were in the photos there was no chance Brandon or Mackenzie would be anything short of beautiful.

Michael turned the pages and saw a few different photos of Mackenzie. It made him feel uncomfortable seeing a girl he found highly attractive smiling in a photo of her as a child. She was an adorable looking child, Michael could see quite a few photos of her, her parents must have been snap happy.

"Those were taken in the fabulous nineties. I ran away to Liberty City for a while so Mackenzie became the golden child. Even more so when a talent scout noticed her and got her a few child modelling gigs." Brandon spoke up as he only noticed Michael looking at the album once Melody had stormed out and he had come back inside.

Brandon took the album from Michael and handed it back once he had flipped through a few pages and landed on a two page spread with cut-outs from magazines, newspapers and even a calendar page of Mack as a child, dressed up in different outfits.

"Considering she's in college and not lying in a ditch somewhere with a needle sticking out of her arm remembering past glories I take it she didn't become a child star?" Michael asked Brandon, trying to not sound bitter as he was someone who was successful when he was younger but not so much now.

"Nope. Mack was always a tomboy so she hated it and refused to go to shoots after a while. I don't think my mother ever forgave her for it. She was always tough on Mack, right up to her dying day." Brandon explained further.

"How so?" Michael asked, which was very much out of character for him as he normally didn't care for trivial facts about anyone else other than himself.

"She um…she used to beat the shit out of Mack. She never tried with me, probably because she knew I could take her. But she absolutely used to torture Mackenzie. She'd say awful things to Mack as well, really fucked with her head." Brandon stated, looking at the ground a little in guilt.

A lot of things were lost on Michael if it wasn't about him, however he was paying very close attention to this conversation and he saw how awkward Brandon looked. Normally he would change the topic very quickly but he was very intrigued about this one.

"And your father was fine with this? Jeeze, if Amanda hit one of our kids…" Michael trailed off with a very thinly veiled threat.

Brandon choked back a laugh. Everybody knew Michael De Santa wasn't a big fan of Brandon Lancaster and would run his mouth about the good looking younger man whenever he had the chance. Everybody also knew the feelings were mutual. Brandon couldn't stand how much of a cuck Michael was and didn't believe he could potentially ever leave Amanda. Which suited Brandon fine – as it meant she regularly turned to him to get her fix of a real man.

"I don't know, he turned a blind eye to it I guess. I loved my mom, her connections and charisma were very inspiring to me. As an aging model with a pretty daughter who had her whole life ahead of her, I think it showed my mother that the golden days were behind her. I think she secretly had mental problems too, so we all forgave her for how she treated Mack." Brandon snapped by the end, making it very clear he would no longer discuss the current topic with Michael.

Brandon then walked out in a huff exclaiming he'd go outside to fetch Lester from Michael's Tailgater and would be back soon.

Michael had more he wanted to discuss but he was willing to let it go as he knew he wouldn't be able to get it out of Brandon. He made a mental note to try and pry more another time.

He kept going through the photo album and saw a few more photos of Mack in various stages of her life. He even laughed when he saw photos of her during her awkward teen phases – slightly chubby, braces, acne and emo clothing. Mack was a cute child and now a beautiful woman but even she wasn't safe from the ungraceful teenage years.

One photo had really caught Michael's attention as he flipped onto it. It had her in her blue robes at her high school graduation smiling wildly standing next to Brandon and their father who had aged from the other photos.

What stood out to Michael was the photo of her high school diploma. Most of her first name was covered by her hand but he could make out the first letter – B. He knew Mack that apparently hated her first name and went by her middle name – Mackenzie. But now Michael knew the first letter of her true name. Her real name started with B.

"Alright, Lester the god damn man is here. Let's get this over and done with. I need to go out and score." Brandon spoke up as he strolled back inside with Lester wobbling behind him.

* * *

As Lester, Michael and Brandon were finishing up their meeting, Brandon's ring tone began to go off on his iFruit phone. Brandon muttered he couldn't be bothered and it was probably 'some piece of disposable ass' and ignored it.

It went off again and once again Brandon ignored it but let out a large growl.

The third sound from his phone was not a call but a text message. Brandon got his phone out this time to who was trying to trying to contact him.

Michael was initially disinterested as Brandon's playboy lifestyle had always annoyed him. However he was about to become very interested once he saw Brandon's reaction.

"Ah, fuck! Melody is absolutely fucking nuts." Brandon hissed out loud as he jumped up and grabbed his car keys off the bench as he was preparing to fly out the door.

"So we're done here?" Michael asked, annoyed at Brandon's vague and arrogant departure.

"Yes. Melody has driven to Rockford Hills to abuse Mackenzie. I need to go and sort it out." Brandon responded.

Michael's eyes widened at this revelation.

"Shouldn't she call the cops or something? Maybe that boyfriend of hers, he's a cop right?" Michael asked Brandon in a quick manner.

"Probably," Brandon smirked "But I'm going to film and provoke Melody first. This could really help with my divorce proceedings."

Lester stayed silent as he looked between the two. This was entering dangerous territory, it wasn't good for police to be anywhere near all three of them at once.

"You'd seriously put winning your divorce over your sister's safety? That's low." Michael growled.

"I call it killing two birds with one stone. Besides, you can't talk. You're not exactly father or husband of the year." Brandon snapped.

Michael could have strangled Brandon for his complete arrogance, both towards his lack of care for Mackenzie and also for shit talking Michael's private life. Michael wasn't sure whether his paternal instincts were kicking in or whether it was due to his small attraction to Mack, but he found himself rising from his seat as well with intentions of racing to the Lancaster house as well.

"Mack's house is on the way to mine, I'll swing by and lend an extra hand." Michael spoke up as he heaved off Brandon's comfortable couch.

"Good idea, you can be a witness should Melody do something crazy." Brandon beamed.

Both Michael and Brandon departed from Brandon's house very quickly after that. Lester had no interest in being around for the Lancaster family drama and citing that it was a risk should the police get involved he opted to get the bus, apparently not trusting the Los Santos cabs.

Michael drove very recklessly back to Rockford Hills but he found himself pulling into the driveway just after Brandon, who must have known a shortcut to get there at the same time.

The two men jumped out of their respective cars and found Melody on the lawn shouting at Mack with her hand pointed at her. Upon closer inspection of the scene they were both horrified to see a gash on Mack's head with a trickle of blood that was drying up.

"You!" Melody shouted at the younger girl "You are a homewrecker."

"Takes one to know one." Mack teased, feeling confident now she knew that she had backup.

Mack was definitely singing a very different tune earlier on. Melody had appeared out of the blue and wanted to 'talk things through'. Mack felt a little sorry for Melody but also wanted to be a little manipulative and try and pretend she had no hand in what had happened and offered to talk it all out over a cup of tea.

Whilst she made tea she gave Brandon the heads up that his crazy soon-to-be ex-wife had randomly turned up to create drama. The talk had gone fine until Melody asked Mack if she planned on seeing Packie again – as Melody was under the impression that Mack had relations with Packie the same night she had slept with Trevor. Melody still thought they were both strangers to the pair.

"Um… probably not. I'm pretty happy with David, I don't want to ruin things with him." Mack lied (well, essentially told the truth) quickly, not realising how poor of a choice her words were.

Without warning Melody hurled the empty cup towards Mack, and it knocked her just above her eyebrow, part of the mug chipping on her skull and causing a wound on her head.

Melody was absolutely furious that Mack got to keep her relationship. She was furious that Brandon had found out about her escapade with a man from the country club (the only 'rule' he had for their open relationship) and she was furious he was cleverer than her and had outsmarted her with these divorce proceedings.

From there Mack was too dazed and a little fearful of Melody. Mack had remained quiet and let Melody abuse her on her lawn until Brandon and Michael had shown up.

"Well then. We have a difficult situation on our hands." Brandon grinned as he surveyed the scene.

* * *

 **I'm back! Back in the Los Santos Groove ;)**

 **Sorry for the hiatus, especially as this story is fun to write and quite frankly you readers of this story are fucking awesome. I've decided to put another story for another fandom on hold so I can focus on this one again. That story has offended so many people that I receive lots of hate mail and hate reviews every chapter purely because a 30-odd divorced guy is interested in a very legal 18 year old girl. Apparently I'm a pedo/sick in the head for writing such filth - if those precious petals read this story I think they'd die of a heart attack eh?**

 **Thanks for the support - I'll try to keep going on and not let you guys down!**


	32. Chapter 32

Melody then turned her rage onto Brandon. She called him many names and many insults, mainly centred on the size of his penis. This enraged Brandon and he dished it out right back at her coming up with many new and creative insults he didn't know he was capable of.

This meant that the injured Mackenzie went forgotten. However Michael was still present and he found himself approaching the girl.

"How's your head feel? Do you need to go to a doctor's clinic?" Michael asked her gruffly.

The last time they spoke was metres away at the front door a couple of weeks ago when Michael lashed out due to the sight of seeing Mack half dressed with her handsome boyfriend. Michael had not spoken to Mack since this event and felt quite uncomfortable about speaking to her for the first time.

"I'm…I'm alright. I think. I might just take a seat right here." Mack slowly stated giving Michael a huge grin as she sank to the ground and sat cross legged on the lush lawn.

Michael instantly picked up on Mack's personality change. He wasn't sure whether it was her head or whether she was also uncomfortable for their first encounter since he had yelled at her. He didn't know what to do.

"I can take you if you want me to." Michael offered to Mack.

Mack didn't respond, she was silent but still had her eyes open and seemed aware of her surroundings. Michael repeated her name a few times but he had no luck in receiving a response from her. Being a little fearful for her safety he pulled her up by her arms and held onto her tightly.

Melody and Brandon were still fighting like cats and dogs and hadn't noticed Mack's illness. However they did stop fighting when a very familiar red truck pulled into the driveway.

"Oh, shit. Mackenzie, did you call him?" Michael asked Mack urgently.

"Who?" Mack asked, still in her daze.

"What the fuck is going on here?" Trevor growled loudly as he jumped out of his Bodhi and approached the domestic dispute.

A wicked grin appeared across Melody's face at the sight of Trevor's appearance. This was all going to plan, she had carefully manipulated the entire situation. The only difference was that Michael wasn't supposed to be there but she was sure it wouldn't be a problem.

"Why would Mack call him? Of course it was me. Trevor, they're all being mean to me. During our special night you bragged to me about how many people you've disposed of, right?" Melody asked as she bat her eyelids towards Trevor.

Michael's mouth hung open in shock. He was fairly sure Trevor would never lay a hand on the Lancasters, but as Trevor was very unstable he couldn't be quite sure. He never picked that Melody was capable of hiring a hitman either, he had known her for a while. She had been inside his house and spent time with his family. This turn of events was causing chills to run down his spine.

He knew he was being a hypocrite but he didn't care. This situation was volatile and he knew he had one thing to do. He needed to get out of there but he was taking Mack with him.

Michael decided to not speak up and began to silently slink away, his firm grip on Mack's waist as he slowly inched away from the lawn towards his car. Whilst Melody and Brandon didn't notice this, unfortunately for Michael, Trevor had.

"Get your filthy hands off her, you fat shit. Where do you think you're going with her?" Trevor snapped towards Michael as he approached the pair.

"She's injured. Melody threw a mug at her head. I'm going to take her to see a doctor." Michael responded.

Trevor kept his angry gaze but cast it upon Mackenzie as he studied her wound. His face softened for a moment before his usual anger washed over him.

"Arghhhhh!" he exclaimed angrily as he stalked over to Melody.

"How could you hurt something so gentle and pure? You are not worth killing for. You're nothing more than a pair of tits to me. Now I suggest you clear off." Trevor shouted at Melody.

Melody was silent for a moment and he screamed loudly in her face. This seemed to wake her up and she began to stalk off the property. She was sped up as Trevor chased after her making a lot of angry noises. She got into her car and drove off angrily.

Finally there was silence on the lawn again, and Michael sighed a breath of relief due to the fact that Melody was now gone and wasn't capable of organising a hit on the Lancaster siblings today.

"I told you to get your hands off her." Trevor snapped towards Michael, stomping over and easily grabbing Mack's body away from him.

"Where are you taking her?" Michael asked Trevor.

"Pillbox Hill Hospital. If she's concussed or has damage a regular doctor can't do shit. I can't let anything happen to my new business partner." Trevor responded.

He cast his eyes upon Michael and Brandon, almost daring them to not let him whisk Mack away. Brandon was preoccupied as he was checking his iFruit phone. Michael had lowered his head. He knew deep down it was dangerous to leave Mack with Trevor. However if he was taking her straight to the hospital Michael figured there was no harm involved. It was better than arguing with Trevor and causing problems. All he had to do was snap and do something stupid, have the authorities get involved and then the last ten years would come undone.

Trevor picked up Mack bridal style and easily was able to put her into his truck on the passenger's side. He made sure she was safely strapped in before he jumped into the driver's seat.

"Is she still conscious? How bad do you think the head wound is?" Michael asked Trevor nervously.

"I'm not a fucking doctor Michael, in case you didn't know. I guess all that fat has no where else to be stored in your body and is going straight to your head." Trevor growled.

"Alright. I'm going home." Michael responded as he decided to ignore Trevor's taunts. He got into his Tailgater and pretended to fiddle with his keys as he watched Brandon say something to Trevor before Brandon immediately drove off without a second glance at his sister.

Trevor then immediately sped off to take Mack to the hospital.

* * *

Mack had been in the hospital for a few hours. She hadn't been admitted to a ward but was seated on a bed in a curtained off area waiting to be seen by a doctor. The doctor had quickly checked her over when she was admitted to see if she was critically injured. He decided she was in a stable condition and said he'd check on her during his routine rounds to see what action needed to be taken.

Trevor ended up being thrown out of the hospital half an hour after Mack was admitted. He kept demanding she been seen sooner and ended up getting violent towards hospital staff – apparently it took eight security guards to turf him out. He ended up texting her saying he was called away anyway for some kind of task involving Michael and his protégé (who Mack guessed was Franklin) so she had been spending the past hour or so watching the small TV above the bed quietly to pass the time.

"Suck my dick, Steve fucking Haines!" Mack watched a Ballas gang member yell towards the host of the Underbelly of Paradise, Steve Haines.

This caused Mack to roar out with laughter, watching as Haines' face fell with disappointment at the negative interaction.

Mack's laughter earned the attention of a strict nurse on duty who opened the curtain with a scowl.

"Ma'am, be quiet. There's detectives here interviewing a victim of a serious assault, and the doctors are calming the victim so they can admit her to a ward." The nurse snapped towards Mack.

Mack had been dazed for the past few hours but this nurse's attitude had helped her snap out of it. She was growing angry and was ready to unleash it.

"What about my assault? My brother's ex-wife did this to me, as she unfairly blames me for her decision to cheat on him thus ending their marriage." Mack snapped back as she pointed towards her head.

"Mackenzie?" David, Mack's boyfriend asked in surprise as he poked his head through the curtain.

"Am I being delusional and imagining the most handsome face I could imagine, or is my boyfriend really here right now? I'm not sure, considering I've been here for so long with no medical attention." Mack spoke up sarcastically.

"Aw, she called me handsome. She must be delusional in that case." David grinned towards the nurse.

The nurse just shook her head and muttered something that was missed on the two as she scampered away.

"What on earth happened to you?" David asked sounding quite worried, as he kissed the non-injured side of her head and sat next to her on the bed.

"It's a long story. I've been here for a while, still waiting to see a doctor. It's almost completely worth it as I got to see on TV a Ballas gang member tell that Steve Haines guy to suck his dick. Day made." Mack grinned.

David looked up at the television and smirked as he saw what Mack was watching.

"Ah, I know that show well. When it came out in 2008 I was still a fairly low level uniformed cop. In the first season I used to feature a lot, so much that Haines actually shadowed my partner and I for an entire episode." David proudly stated.

Mack smiled as she felt pride for her boyfriend. She had been completely smitten by him but this just added fuel to that fire.

"Is he an ass in real life? He comes across as charming on the show, but he strikes me the type of being a complete dick when the cameras are off." Mack asked him curiously.

"Oh boy. Yep, in person he's a complete jerk. We exchanged quite a lot of heated words to the point that they stopped using footage of me on the show at Haines' request. Jokes on him, he missed some pretty entertaining things I did after that." David explained to Mack.

Mack went on to make a smart remark but an associate of David's entered through the curtain, questioning why David had suddenly departed in the middle of questioning an assault victim.

"Jenkins, this is my lovely girlfriend Mackenzie Lancaster. It seems she too was assaulted. So we're going to go finish our questioning but I want a unit called down here to investigate into Mackenzie's injury. I also want the doctors to get in here as soon as possible." David said to his partner.

He gave Mack a quick squeeze on the shoulder as he exited the curtained area and promised he would be back soon.

Mack was once again left alone with only the television to keep her company. Although she smiled lightly when she received a text.

 _Hey – are you ok?_

* * *

When Michael pulled up at the FIB base in East Los Santos he knew his head wasn't in the right place. It had been an eventful enough day before he was dragged to the meeting with Agent Norton, Agent Sanchez and Agent Haines.

As he drove Dave's government issued car to their destination the memory of the morning completely left his mind – especially as he was forced to call Franklin and learn Trevor was getting involved.

But the second he laid his eyes on Trevor the morning came flooding back to him. Finding out Mack's mother was abusive. Finding out her real name started with B. Racing to the more modest Rockford Hills house and finding out Melody had assaulted Mack and had attempted to get Trevor to harm the two Lancaster siblings. Trevor racing Mack to the hospital…

"Hey T, enough with the faux political bullshit!" Michael called out to him, to try and bring himself back to reality, before he urged Franklin to take off as the agents were not currently paying attention.

"Whoa. What, am I detecting some… err… some sort of… err… 'son I never had' bullshit here, Mikey, huh?" Trevor gruffly asked Michael before turning to Franklin "Hey listen. If you wanna replace some father figure, you can do a lot better than that fat snake, alright? This fucker would eat his own kids."

"Are you saying there's currently a job opening for your services as a makeshift father? Didn't think you were the paternal type." Michael snorted towards Trevor's insults.

"Unfortunately for this kid, I've already filled that role. I'm focusing my efforts on Miss Mackenzie, that girl has a lot of promise." Trevor smugly replied.

"How is she?" Michael asked Trevor as his face softened a little.

"Those fucks at the hospital tossed me out when I demanded they see her rather than their usual practice of loafing around. So I can't answer your question Michael." Trevor responded.

"Look, I don't mean no offense. But we can talk about Mack at another time, aight?" Franklin mentioned sounding frustrated, as he was the only one in the dark about what had happened to her earlier.

"I guess introductions are in order then. That's Trevor, my best friend," Michael said as he indicated to Trevor before turning his attention onto Franklin "That's Franklin, the son I always wanted."

Michael then quickly explained the job to the two before him, explaining how he wanted to keep it clean to be able to make the feds happy and be able to walk away successfully. Trevor bought up Brad's name so Michael excused himself to go get changed.

He also had another motive for wanting to depart quickly and that was due to the 'daughter' that Trevor had adopted. He wanted to check up on her – and not just because of the confrontation with Melody earlier today. Trevor either had some hold over Mack, or even worse – she was forming a bond with him of her own free will. He wanted to make sure everything was in order.

 _Hey – are you ok?_ Michael quickly texted her after heading inside and grabbing the gear.

It took him a while to pull on all of the tactical equipment so by the time he was ready to go back outside he saw that he had a reply.

 _Still waiting to be seen. Pretty annoying really. Apparently a police unit has now been contacted to take a statement about the incident so I'll be seeing cops before a doctor!_

Michael chuckled at her dry text. He knew he was due out to get started on this mission but he had one last quick text to send before he jumped into the chopper.

 _I'm busy right now but let me know if you need me to stop by later. I can drive Tracey if you want visitors._

He put his phone into the suit and walked back out to Trevor, as Franklin had already taken off.

"The government gimp at last." Trevor remarked with a grin as Michael walked out of the building clad in his tactical gear.

"Eh. Bite me." Michael grumbled being very unimpressed with Trevor's teasing.

As Trevor had started up the chopper Michael did not feel the vibrations in his chest of his phone going off. He had received a text message he would read only when he finished up his mission. The text would cause him slight disappointment even though it would mean he was free to go home and put up his feet with no further obligations to anyone for the rest of the day.

 _Thanks, that's really nice of you but I'm ok. David was here for a case and is taking me home when I'm done. Doctors here now apparently I can go after the cops take my statement. Don't need stitches, just one of those strong bandage things that hold wounds together. Thanks for your help today, talk soon x_

* * *

 **You guys are awesome! Thanks so much for your support - the comments on the last chapter made me laugh. I'm so happy that I still have readers and as you can see I've come back to update regularly.**

 **This is the first time in a while this story has closely followed the main GTA storyline. There's a few more missions coming up shortly (including 'By the Book') but I'll put in as much original content as possible to keep it interesting and not be a generic 'rehash' fanfiction.**


	33. Chapter 33

"First five rounds are on me, the bitch settled. What would you like little sis, top shelf whiskey? Expensive champagne?" Brandon asked his younger sister as he approached her at their bar of choosing they had previously agreed upon.

It had been two weeks since the day that Melody had attacked Mackenzie. Mack had heard very little from her brother since then, who was apparently locked into bitter divorce negotiations. Up until tonight when he insisted on short notice to meet her at a seaside bar near Vespucci Beach.

Mack's head wound was healing nicely. There was still a scratch but the bandage had come off a week ago as the wound had closed. The worst part for her was the first few days – the doctor had informed her that she was slightly concussed and although it was no cause for concern she had an aching head for a few days after that mimicked a non-stop hangover.

Luckily for her a very worried David insisted she stay with him for a few days whilst he doted on her outside of work hours. He also valiantly made sure the uniformed cops who questioned Mack in the hospital took the proper action. Melody was charged with assault and a restraining order was filed so she legally couldn't go anywhere near Mack.

"Actually I really could go for a Pisswasser right now. It's a nice night for a beer." Mack responded to Brandon.

"Just get us a nice bottle of champagne. I don't want some crazy billionaire thirty thousand dollar champagne rubbish, but something considered expensive to your regular Joe." Brandon asked the bar tender, ignoring Mack's request for a cheap beer.

"Say no more." The bar tender grinned as he disappeared to fetch Brandon's order.

"So you're officially divorced?" Mack asked her older brother curiously.

"No, we need it to go through the courts officially. But my lawyer served dozens of incriminating pieces of evidence. Multiple counts of cheating, the fact she's bought nothing to the marriage fiscally, I even made up some bullshit about the fact she's refusing to have kids. That restraining order you got against Melody was the big final nail in the coffin, she looks crazy as fuck." Brandon bragged loudly.

"I don't know if I'd take a bullet for you Brandon, but you can't say I wouldn't take a mug to the head." Mack joked with a weak smile on her face.

The bar tender returned with a crisp bottle of champagne. Brandon pulled out a thick wad of green bills and counted out quite a few, with the bar tender grinning and giving out a loud 'thank you!' as he put a few in his breast pocket – Brandon had given him a very generous tip.

Brandon's phone began to go off.

"I've been casually seeing this pretty hot fitness model recently. If that's her and if she wants to get together I can meet up with her later. I want to spend time with my sister, it's been a while. You did a big favour for me, even if you didn't really have a choice in the matter," Brandon said to Mack but then his face screwed up "Unknown number, hold on a sec."

Mack looked away awkwardly and got her phone up to scroll through LifeInvader. She never minded if someone answered a phone in her company but always went to lengths to make sure she wasn't rudely eavesdropping.

The conversation Brandon had wrapped up quickly and as soon as he put his phone down Mack sent him a smile as she locked her phone and put it into her purse. Brandon let out a sharp exhale.

"That was some guy from the FIB. Looks like we're getting roped into some corrupt federal government drama. We need to call that sleazy cab driver that always turns off the cameras to try and sexually assault you." Brandon explained to Mack as he took the unopened bottle of champagne off the bar and got up from his bar stool.

"Do we have to?" Mack whined loudly.

"Would you rather deal with a ten minute cab ride with a creep, or become an enemy of the government?" Brandon asked with a cheeky smile.

Mack let out a loud sigh and got her phone out, bracing herself for an uncomfortable situation.

* * *

When the two Lancaster siblings entered the building they both had very different moods. Brandon entered first as he burst through the doors and confidently strode down the iron stairs where he was met by three strangers. Shooting them all a big grin he outstretched his hand and introduced himself.

Mack on the other hand entered very meekly. She shyly and quietly followed behind Brandon and stood back, feeling quite awkward and nervous. She made no effort to introduce herself and let Brandon do all of the talking, but her eyes widened when two of the men revealed themselves.

"Steve Haines. Must say, I'm more excited to be working with you than the other schmucks we've called for this job. Sorry to get you and your sister involved amigo, but unfortunately business is business. You understand, right?" Haines asked Brandon very confidently.

"I completely and utterly understand. I like to think of it as a mutually beneficial agreement. You get, err…well whatever it is we're doing today. I get the chance to make some very important connections." Brandon shrugged nonchalantly.

This made Mack let out a very loud and unflattering snort, earning the attention of those around her.

"Who's this one? Why on earth could she possibly be useful?" One of the men from the back asked in a condescending manner.

"Never thought I'd find myself with Steve Haines, Devon Weston and some other FIB dude in some dodgy warehouse about to do some dodgy job. Sounds like the punchline of a joke." Mack nervously rambled, trying to stop herself from taking offense at what Weston had told her.

"This is my sister. She's useful, I promise. She's smart in that cluey way, not a textbook-but-no-common-sense way like most college students. She always seems to have a certain charm over men. I've been chasing guys away from her since she was sixteen." Brandon responded in an attempt to prop up his sister.

This made Mack smile wildly. She knew her brother loved her but he very rarely showed it – it was very rare to get a compliment out of him. Then again she was the same towards him. The Lancaster family showed they cared through actions rather than affections, Mack and Brandon's parents were the same. To outsiders it seemed cold but to the Lancaster's it was their way of life.

"Many losers seem to have a fat fetish these days don't they? They want to pork the porkers. You're lucky this isn't my job or I would have tossed her the second I saw her, although I doubt I would have been able to get her very far." Weston loudly mocked Mack with a dry laugh.

She felt her face heat up with embarrassment. In some situations Mack could find herself fierce and fiery. However when her self esteem had taken a beating she wasn't able to find her feet and instead she silently felt sorry for herself.

"See this is why we get along so well! We go for different types of women and never intrude. You like the anorexic sluts and I like the real women. Give me a girl like Lancaster any day." Haines winked towards Mack.

"This sly dog here though, he looks like he could be worth something. Tell me slick, what's your story?" Weston asked Brandon curiously.

Brandon smirked towards Weston. He was going to pipe up and mention that his sister was hardly considered chubby at a US size-six, but he kept his mouth shut as he began to converse with Devin Weston. If he could land Weston as a 'connection' his life would be made.

He also felt slightly guilty but he was pleased he was more likeable over Mackenzie. Ever since he got Mack involved in his world he felt that people liked her more. He was glad he still had his infamous charm.

Mack heard the door at the top of the staircase open up and she saw Michael and Trevor burst through. She smiled wildly as she was glad to see two friendly faces.

"Oh, ladies!" Haines called out sarcastically, being a lot more rude towards Michael and Trevor than he was for Mack and Brandon.

"What are the two Lancaster's doing here? I thought you only wanted Trevor." Michael growled, causing Mack's smile to disappear. The last thing she needed was for another older male to insult her now fragile ego.

Michael's question went ignored as Trevor piped up in hatred of the other occupants of the building.

"You, you back there. I know you. But you? You I don't know." Trevor stated as he pointed towards Weston.

Weston rudely responded to Trevor and turned back to Haines and Brandon.

"It's been a pleasure. Brandon, we should definitely catch up sometime. Golf, Pilates, take your pick. Oh, your sister is not invited. I don't like being around fat people." Weston said to Brandon as he began to climb the stairs.

"No wonder why you're leaving the second Michael enters the room then." Trevor chuckled, deciding it was a better use of his time to take a dig towards his best friend than it was to defend Mackenzie.

"Shut the fuck up asshole. This prick clearly has a warped sense of what's fat if he thinks that girl is chubby." Michael growled to Trevor.

Weston didn't bother responding and departed the warehouse. This just left the two corrupt federal agents, Mr. K who was long forgotten in the background tied up and the four that had been recruited by the agents.

Trevor began to press the agents for information but Michael intervened and got Trevor off the topic. This action wasn't lost on Mackenzie. When she and Michael spent time together under the Vinewood sign he had told her all about the corrupt deal he had made with an FIB agent to escape the hole he had dug that was his life. She hadn't gotten much information out of Haines and Norton but she knew two things.

One was that Michael and a few of his acquaintances (including her and Brandon) were getting sucked into these schemes due to Michael's ties to the FIB. The second thing was that she knew it would be bad news for everyone if Trevor knew the extent of Michael's involvement with the FIB.

* * *

"Turn on Los Santos rock radio!" Mack requested loudly, even boldly unbuckling her seatbelt and leaned into the front to change the radio.

"Hey!" Dave Norton angrily reprimanded her, not being too happy with her actions.

Mack only sent a grin towards her brother who was seated in the back – with Norton in the passenger seat and Michael at the wheel. Brandon sent her a small smile back.

The two Lancaster's were hardly innocent but the two had not had extended exposure to death and gore and had never killed anyone personally. Brandon had helped organise a few hits but had never been present when it was followed through. Mack had been too busy during the jewel heist to see any of the damage, and the only other time she had seen death was the time she went with Michael and Franklin to chase down Michael's yacht – the only injured parties being crooks who instigated it.

Therefore both Brandon and Mack felt unsettled that not too far away a man was being tortured to get information. Mack didn't know what was going through her brother's head but she felt uneasy she had been dragged along to this 'in case she was needed' as Norton and Haines had put it.

The two siblings remained quiet and let Norton and Michael talk, but they both grew very interested as Michael pulled up next to a house in Rockford Hills.

"Oh ho, ho. The Real Cunts of Suburbia. I've bedded half of those women. Trust me, those dried up bitches wouldn't touch a darkie with a ten foot pole." Brandon piped up in amusement.

"This is bullshit." Michael mumbled in disapproval of what Brandon had stated.

"Shit. You are kidding me. I'll call Steve." Norton sighed loudly as he grabbed his cell phone and got up Haines' number. As Norton spoke to Haines, Brandon decided to speak with Michael.

"Have you slept with any of them, De Santa?" Brandon grinned madly.

"The fuck you care who I sleep with?" Michael responded in disbelief, making Brandon's grin fall as he wasn't anticipating a sarcastic response.

"He cares because he's trying to less than subtly brag about his conquest by making it a topic again by asking you a stupid question," Mack cheekily pointed out but added on when she saw her brother's pout "Honestly, you've had much hotter women lately you should be bragging about."

"Michael on the other hand has only statutory rape charges recently. Yes De Santa, your wife told me all about that." Brandon shot towards Michael bitterly.

"Ew!" Mack shouted in disgust as she shot a very dirty look towards Michael.

Michael felt himself get very heated. He wasn't sure whether he was angry that Brandon was using a personal event against him, or whether he was annoyed Amanda had spilled this to people he knows. He did however know he was livid that Brandon was the one who caused Mackenzie to think less of him. He took a few seconds to calm down when he realised yelling in a car with a federal agent during a highly secret mission was not such a great idea.

"That was well over a year ago. Besides, the stripper turned out to be thirty three. Drugs had stunted her growth. She had assumed her teenage daughter's identity for a welfare scam." Michael explained, finding his attention more on Mack than Brandon.

"Uh huh...yeah, let's get coffee." Norton spoke up as he had long gotten off the phone with Haines and had no interest in this line of conversation.

* * *

"Fuck yeah! This Irish coffee is going down great with the no food in my stomach thing!" Brandon cheered loudly as he sat in the outside seating area.

"Eating is cheating don't you ever forget it!" Mack giggled as she took a large swig from her cup.

"I will never forgive you for allowing these two alcohol in their coffee. They're now completely useless to us now. Let's just ditch them here." Norton growled towards Michael.

"Davey, they were twitchy in the line and making a scene. I had to suggest something a little stronger to calm them down." Michael shrugged nonchalantly.

Michael knew that Dave Norton saw through his crap immediately. It was obvious that Michael had gotten Brandon and Mackenzie drunk on purpose to get them struck off the mission. It was half-true. He had done it for Mack's sake. He didn't give a damn about Brandon.

"Oh my god, we should totally do a Cluckin' Bell run after this!" Brandon piped up loudly.

"Fuck yeah! Fried chicken or national security, I know which one I think is more important to our great country. It starts with F, ends with ried chicken." Mack giggled.

"On second thoughts, I think you're right. We should safely put them in a cab and get them out of here." Michael smugly stated.

"Get them out of my sight." Dave angrily stated as he picked up his phone angrily and stormed off, presumably to inform Haines he was pulling the plug on the Lancaster sibling's involvement.

"Hey, I'm going to get you a cab so you can go grab food, kay?" Michael said to Mack as he put an arm around her shoulder to steady her.

"Are you coming?" Mack asked him.

"No, I have some stuff I need to sort out." Michael responded matter-of-factly.

"Oh." Mack responded, her face dropping with disappointment very evident in her voice. This made Michael grin.

Before he could hail a cab off the street Norton came back over looking very solemn.

"Haines has more information on the suspect and gave me a new location. He said we can cut the older Lancaster loose but we might need the girl still." Norton sighed.

"Just give me my fucking chicken later and I'm all yours." Mack brightly responded with a cheesy smile.

* * *

 **This was going to be longer and cover the entire mission but I decided to cut it in half. Here's a question for my readers: do you prefer more GTA content where missions are re-hashed and explained in detail or do you prefer more original content with the canon characters interacting with my original characters?**


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